Let E/Q be an elliptic curve and p be a prime number, and let G be the Galois group of the extension of Q obtained by adjoining the coordinates of the p-torsion points on E. We determine all cases when the Galois cohomology group H^1(G, E[p]) does no
t vanish, and investigate the analogous question for E[p^i] when i>1. We include an application to the verification of certain cases of the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, and another application to the Grunwald-Wang problem for elliptic curves.
We investigate Kerr-Newman black holes in which a rotating charged ring-shaped singularity induces a region which contains closed timelike curves (CTCs). Contrary to popular belief, it turns out that the time orientation of the CTC is opposite to the
direction in which the singularity or the ergosphere rotates. In this sense, CTCs counter-rotate against the rotating black hole. We have similar results for all spacetimes sufficiently familiar to us in which rotation induces CTCs. This motivates our conjecture that perhaps this counter-rotation is not an accidental oddity particular to Kerr-Newman spacetimes, but instead there may be a general and intuitively comprehensible reason for this.
