1.Introduction

2.Elements of General Relativity

3. Colliding Impulsive Gravitational Waves

4. Plane Waves

5. Geometrical Considerations

6. The Field Equations

7. Boundary Conditions

8. Singularity Structure

9. The Szekeres Class of Vacuum Solutions

10. Other Vacuum Solutions with Aligned Polarization

11. Ernst's Equation for Colliding Gravitational Waves

12. Solution-Generating Techniques

13. Vacuum Solutions with Non-Aligned Polarization

14. The Initial Value Problem

15. Colliding Electromagnet Waves: The Bell-Szekeres Solution

16. Ernst's Equation for Colliding Electromagnetic Waves

17. Colliding Electromagnetic Waves: Exact Solutions

18. Colliding Electromagnetic Waves: Diagonal Solutions

19. Electromagnetic Waves Colliding with Gravitational Waves

20. Other Sources

21. Related Results

22. Conclusions and Prospects

Appendix: Coordinate Systems

References

Index

Postscript

This monograph surveys recent research on the collision and interaction of gravitational and electromagnetic waves. "This is a particularly important topic in general relativity," the author notes, "since the theory predicts that there will be a nonlinear interaction between such waves." Geared toward graduate students and researchers in general relativity, the text offers a comprehensive and unified review of the vast literature on the subject.
The first eight chapters offer background, presenting the field equations and discussing some qualitative aspects of their solution. Subsequent chapters explore further exact solutions for colliding plane gravitational waves and the collision and interaction of electromagnetic waves. The final chapters summarize all related results for the collision of plane waves of different types and in non-flat backgrounds. A new postscript updates developments since the book's initial 1991 publication.
Dover (2016) republication of the edition originally published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1991.
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www.doverpublications.com

J. B. Griffiths is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, England.