The ideas originally proposed to discuss continuous creation of matter are reconsidered in the context of the big bang cosmological models. It is shown that singularity-free big bang models are possible under the modified field equations of general relativity. However, the case is made out that matter creation takes place in several mini-bangs at different epochs rather than in one big bang. The implications of this idea for high energy astrophysics and for gravitational radiation are discussed.

The motion of a tachyon in the empty Schwarzschild solution outside a massm is discussed. It is shown that a tachyon falling radially inwards never reaches the space-time singularity at the origin. Instead, it is bounced back at a point inside the Schwarzschild radius. The causal and non-causal aspects of such a bounce are considered. It is shown that a tachyon dropped from a radial co-ordinate <2.56m always airives before it went in whereas a tachyon dropped from a radial co-ordinate >3.27m always arrives later than its starting time. The more general case of a tachyon with a finite angular momentum is also analyzed. The possible astrophysical consequences of the presence of tachyons near condensed or collapsing objects and black holes are qualitatively discussed.

The usual definition of a black hole is modified to make it applicable in a globally hyperbolic space-time. It is shown that in a closed globally hyperbolic universe the surface area of a black hole must eventually decrease. The implications of this breakdown of the black hole area theorem are discussed in the context of thermodynamics and cosmology. A modified definition of surface gravity is also given for non-stationary universes. The limitations of these concepts are illustrated by the explicit example of the Kerr-Vaidya metric.