The Bell-Szekeres Solution and Related Solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell Equations

A novel technique for solving some head-on collisions of plane homogeneous light-like signals in Einstein-Maxwell theory is described. The technique is a by-product of a re-examination of the fundamental Bell-Szekeres solution in this field of study. Extensions of the Bell-Szekeres collision problem to include light-like shells and gravitational waves are described and a family of solutions having geometrical and topological properties in common with the Bell-Szekeres solution is derived.