In this talk, we study initial value problem for the Einstein equation with null matter fields, motivated by null shell solutions of Einstein equation. In particular, we show that null shell solutions can be constructed as limits of spacetimes with null matter fields. We also study the stability of these solutions in Sobolev space: we prove that solutions with one family of null matter field are stable, while the interaction of two families of null matter fields can give rise to an instability.

The talk is based on a joint work in progress with Jonathan Luk (Stanford).