2,123 research outputs found
When Statutory Regimes Collide:Will Wisconsin Right to Life and Citizens United Invalidate Federal Tax Regulation of Campaign Activity?
In Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life (2007) and Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission (2010), the United States Supreme Court dramatically reduced the ability of Congress to regulate campaign finance activities of corporations and others active in elections. Many of the same activities are still subject to restrictions by the Internal Revenue Code, which regulates the type and amount of political campaign activities that certain nonprofits exempt under federal tax law can engage in.
In the wake of the campaign finance decisions, the constitutionality of the tax law’s restrictions on campaign activity is now being challenged in the lower courts. This Article analyzes the two recent campaign finance decisions and campaign finance precedents more broadly to determine how, if at all, the Roberts’ Court’s campaign finance jurisprudence is likely to alter existing tax law jurisprudence in the area of campaign activity. It finds that, for the most part, tax law constitutional doctrines have developed independently of other areas of First Amendment free speech law. Based upon an analysis of the distinctive tax law doctrines, the Article concludes that the tax law provision prohibiting section 501(c)(3) charities from engaging in campaigns is likely to withstand challenges arguing that the provision prevents these nonprofits from engaging in protected political speech. However, there is some likelihood that the tax law prohibition is vulnerable to constitutional attack under traditional doctrines of vagueness or overbreadth due to the lack of precision of the terms of the political prohibition, as these have been elaborated by the IRS and the courts to date
One-loop Beta Functions for the Orientable Non-commutative Gross-Neveu Model
We compute at the one-loop order the beta-functions for a renormalisable
non-commutative analog of the Gross Neveu model defined on the Moyal plane. The
calculation is performed within the so called x-space formalism. We find that
this non-commutative field theory exhibits asymptotic freedom for any number of
colors. The beta-function for the non-commutative counterpart of the Thirring
model is found to be non vanishing.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure
Cognition-Enhancing Drugs: Can We Say No?
Normative analysis of cognition-enhancing drugs frequently weighs the liberty interests of drug users against egalitarian commitments to a level playing field. Yet those who would refuse to engage in neuroenhancement may well find their liberty to do so limited in a society where such drugs are widespread. To the extent that unvarnished emotional responses are world-disclosive, neurocosmetic practices also threaten to provide a form of faulty data to their users. This essay examines underappreciated liberty-based and epistemic rationales for regulating cognition-enhancing drugs
Probing the Sensitivity of Electron Wave Interference to Disorder-Induced Scattering in Solid-State Devices
The study of electron motion in semiconductor billiards has elucidated our
understanding of quantum interference and quantum chaos. The central assumption
is that ionized donors generate only minor perturbations to the electron
trajectories, which are determined by scattering from billiard walls. We use
magnetoconductance fluctuations as a probe of the quantum interference and show
that these fluctuations change radically when the scattering landscape is
modified by thermally-induced charge displacement between donor sites. Our
results challenge the accepted understanding of quantum interference effects in
nanostructures.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to Physical Review
A Bisognano-Wichmann-like Theorem in a Certain Case of a Non Bifurcate Event Horizon related to an Extreme Reissner-Nordstr\"om Black Hole
Thermal Wightman functions of a massless scalar field are studied within the
framework of a ``near horizon'' static background model of an extremal R-N
black hole. This model is built up by using global Carter-like coordinates over
an infinite set of Bertotti-Robinson submanifolds glued together. The
analytical extendibility beyond the horizon is imposed as constraints on
(thermal) Wightman's functions defined on a Bertotti-Robinson sub manifold. It
turns out that only the Bertotti-Robinson vacuum state, i.e. , satisfies
the above requirement. Furthermore the extension of this state onto the whole
manifold is proved to coincide exactly with the vacuum state in the global
Carter-like coordinates. Hence a theorem similar to Bisognano-Wichmann theorem
for the Minkowski space-time in terms of Wightman functions holds with
vanishing ``Unruh-Rindler temperature''. Furtermore, the Carter-like vacuum
restricted to a Bertotti-Robinson region, resulting a pure state there, has
vanishing entropy despite of the presence of event horizons. Some comments on
the real extreme R-N black hole are given
Higher order dilaton gravity: brane equations of motion in the covariant formulation
Dilaton gravity with general brane localized interactions is investigated.
Models with corrections up to arbitrary order in field derivatives are
considered. Effective gravitational equations of motion at the brane are
derived in the covariant approach. Dependence of such brane equations on the
bulk quantities is discussed. It is shown that the number of the bulk
independent brane equations of motion depends strongly on the symmetries
assumed for the model and for the background. Examples with two and four
derivatives of the fields are presented in more detail.Comment: 32 pages, references added, discussion extended, typos corrected,
version to be publishe
Gamma-ray and radio tests of the e+e- excess from DM annihilations
PAMELA and ATIC recently reported an excess in e+e- cosmic rays. We show that
if it is due to Dark Matter annihilations, the associated gamma-ray flux and
the synchrotron emission produced by e+e- in the galactic magnetic field
violate HESS and radio observations of the galactic center and HESS
observations of dwarf Spheroidals, unless the DM density profile is
significantly less steep than the benchmark NFW and Einasto profiles.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures; v2: normalizations fixed in Table 2 and typos
corrected (no changes in the analysis nor the results), some references and
comments added; v3: minor additions, matches published versio
On the de Haas-van Alphen effect in inhomogeneous alloys
We show that Landau level broadening in alloys occurs naturally as a
consequence of random variations in the local quasiparticle density, without
the need to consider a relaxation time. This approach predicts
Lorentzian-broadened Landau levels similar to those derived by Dingle using the
relaxation-time approximation. However, rather than being determined by a
finite relaxation time , the Landau-level widths instead depend directly
on the rate at which the de Haas-van Alphen frequency changes with alloy
composition. The results are in good agreement with recent data from three very
different alloy systems.Comment: 5 pages, no figure
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Charge distribution and electroluminescence in cross-linked polyethylene under dc field
The intent of this paper is to cross-correlate the information obtained by space charge distribution analysis and electroluminescence (EL) detection in cross-linked polyethylene samples submitted to dc fields, with the objective to make a link between space charge phenomena and energy release as revealed by the detection of visible photons. Space charge measurements carried out at different field levels by the pulsed electro-acoustic method show the presence of a low-field threshold, close to 15-20 kV mm-1, above which considerable space charge begins to accumulate in the insulation. Charges are seen to cross the insulation thickness through a packet-like behaviour at higher fields, starting at about 60-70 kV mm-1. EL measurements show the existence of two distinct thresholds, one related to the continuous excitation of EL under voltage, the other being transient EL detected upon specimen short circuit. The former occurs at values of field corresponding to charge packet formation and the latter to the onset of space charge accumulation. The correspondence between pertinent values of the electric field obtained through space charge and EL analyses provides support for the existence of degradation thresholds in insulating materials. Special emphasis is given to the relationship between charge packet formation and propagation, and EL. Although the two phenomena are observed in the same field range, it is found that the onset of continuous EL follows the formation at the electrodes of positive and negative space charge regions that extend into the bulk prior to the propagation of charge packets. Charge recombination appears to be the excitation process of EL since oppositely charged domains meet in the material bulk. To gain an insight into specific light-excitation processes associated with charge packet propagation, EL has been recorded for several hours under fields at which charge packet dynamics were evidenced. It is shown that current and luminescence oscillations are detected during charge packet propagation, and that they are in phase. The mechanisms underlying EL and charge packets are further considered on the basis of these results
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