We investigate shock-wave solutions of the Einstein equations in the case when the
speed of propagation is equal to the speed of light. The work extends the shock matching
theory of Smoller and Temple, which characterizes solutions of the Einstein equations when
the spacetime metric is only Lipschitz continuous across a hypersurface, to the lightlike
case. After a brief introduction to general relativity, we develop the extension of a shock
matching theory after introducing a previously known generalization of the second
fundamental form by Barrabes and Israel. In the development of the theory we demonstrate
that the matching of the generalized second fundamental form alone is not a sufficient
condition for conservation conditions to hold across the interface. We then use this theory
to construct a new exact solution of the Einstein equations that can be interpreted as an
outgoing spherical shock wave that propagates at the speed of light. The solution is
constructed by matching a Friedman Robertson Walker (FRW) metric, which is a geometric
model for the universe, to a Tolman Oppenheimer Volkoff (TOV) metric, which models a static
isothermal spacetime. The sound speeds, on each side of the shock, are constant and
sub-luminous. Furthermore, the pressure and density are smaller at the leading edge of the
shock, which is consistent with the Lax entropy condition in classical gas dynamics.
However, the shock speed is greater than all the characteristic speeds. The solution also
yields a surprising result in that the solution is not equal to the limit of previously
known subluminous solutions as they tend to the speed of light.