We show that the entropy created by Ohmic dissipation inside an accreting charged black hole may exceed the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy by a large factor. The second law of thermodynamics does not hold on spacelike slices inside these model black holes, even when the slices avoid Planck scale densities and curvatures. This result is distinct from, but consistent with, the fact that there is no e...

Black hole perturbation theory is typically studied on time surfaces that extend between the bifurcation sphere and spatial infinity. From a physical point of view, however, it may be favorable to employ time surfaces that extend between the future event horizon and future null infinity. This framework resolves problems regarding the representation of quasinormal mode eigenfunctions and the con...

The paper is partly based on research done for the EU-funded (IST2004-2.4.9) project ALIS (Automated Legal Intelligent System) on Intellectual Property Law. We describe the development process of the ALIS Intellectual Property ontology from both a legal and a technical perspective. We discuss the scope and the features of this IP ontology, the lessons learned, and the problems solved. This is d...

We consider the thermodynamic properties of the constant curvature black hole solution recently found by Bañados. We show that it is possible to compute the entropy and the quasilocal thermodynamics of the spacetime using the Einstein-Hilbert action of General Relativity. The constant curvature black hole has some unusual properties which have not been seen in other black hole spacetimes. The e...

In [1] Misner proposed two-body wormhole initial data and in [2] he used the method of images to describe the time-symmetric initial data for an arbitrary number N of particles (see also [3] for a review of time-symmetric initial data). Such data may be viewed as a collection of Einstein-Rosen bridges connecting two isometric sheets. If we restrict ourselves to just one of them, we can view suc...

Distinct partitioning has been observed in the composition and diversity of bacterial communities inhabiting the surface and overlying seawater of three coral species infected with black band disease (BBD) on the southern Caribbean island of Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. PCR amplification and sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes (rDNA) with universally conserved primers have identified over ...

We study the tidal deformations of the shape of a spinning black hole horizon due to a binary companion in the Bowen-York initial data set. We use the framework of quasi-local horizons and identify a black hole by marginally outer trapped surfaces. The intrinsic horizon geometry is specified by a set of mass and angularmomentum multipole moments Mn and Jn respectively. The tidal deformations ar...

We present the gravitational waveforms emitted when a neutron star, modeled as an initially uniformly rotating polytrope, collapses to a Kerr black hole. We investigate the gravitational collapse by carefully studying not only the dynamics of the matter, but also that of the trapped surfaces, of both the apparent and event horizons formed during the collapse. The use of these surfaces, together...

In theory, the existence of black holes is predicted by general relativity. In reality, there is a general consensus that they exist in space; in particular at the center of many galaxies. The theory of black holes has been around for decades, but there are still interesting questions calling for attention. This doctoral thesis and its four contributions touches upon some of these questions. On...

Horizontal black surfaces are usually very attractive to polarotactic aquatic insects, since they generally reflect highly and horizontally polarized light, and thus imitate water surfaces. We monitored highly polarizing black burnt-up stubble-fields, but surprisingly never found aquatic insects or their carcasses in the ash, although flying polarotactic insects were abundant in the area, which...