Abstract
We discuss certain global features of colliding plane-wave solutions to Einstein's equations. In particular, we show that the apparently local curvature singularities both in the Khan-Penrose solution and in the Bell-Szekeres solution are actually global. These global singularities are associated with the breakdown of nondegenerate planar symmetry in the characteristic initial data sets.
- Received 6 May 1983
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.29.1575
©1984 American Physical Society