Some Unique Constants Associated with Extremal Black Holes

In recent papers we had developed a unified picture of black hole entropy and curvature which was shown to lead to Hawking radiation. It was shown that for any black hole mass, holography implies a phase space of just one quantum associated with the interior of the black hole. Here we study extremal rotating and charged black holes and obtain unique values for ratios of angular momentum to entropy, charge to entropy, etc. It turns out that these ratios can be expressed in terms of fundamental constants in nature, having analogies with other physical systems, like in condensed matter physics.Comment: "Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Science" 4 pages, 10 equation

Combating Climate Change in the Capital of Car Culture: Part 1

Say the words "Los Angeles," and you might conjure visions of epic traffic jams, air pollution so thick you can't see the hills, and a city that seems designed to intimidate and marginalize pedestrians and bicyclists.But a new reality is emerging in the city of angels. A slew of developments over the past decade is helping the world capital of car culture transform itself into a world leader in sustainable transportation. While traffic is still bad, the air is significantly cleaner, and public transit alternatives are expanding.If the trends continue, L.A.'s transportation sector could become a model for California -- and the nation -- as we struggle to end our dependence on oil

Dieterici gas as a Unified Model for Dark Matter and Dark Energy

The dominance of dark energy in the universe has necessitated the introduction of a repulsive gravity source to make q0 negative. The models for dark energy range from a simple lambda-term to quintessence, Chaplygin gas, etc. We look at the possibility of how change of behaviour of missing energy density, from DM to DE, may be determined by the change in the equation of state of a background fluid instead of a form of potential. The question of cosmic acceleration can be discussed within the framework of theories which do not necessarily include scalar fields.Comment: 9 pages, 38 equation