A space-time in which in an admissible coordinate system the metric tensor is continuous but has a finite jump in its first and second derivatives across a submanifold will have a curvature tensor containing a Dirac delta function. The support of this distribution may be of three, two, or one dimension or may even consist of a single event. Lichnerowicz's formalism for dealing with such tensors is modified so as to obtain a formalism in which the Bianchi identities are satisfied in the sense of distributions. The resulting formalism is then applied to the discussion of the Einstein field equations for problems in which the source of the gravitational field is given by a distribution valued stress-energy tensor. Gravitational shocks are also discussed and their theory is compared with that of high-frequency gravitational waves given by Y. Choquet-Bruhat. By considering a class of line sources as obtainable from cylindrical shells by a limiting process, as was proposed by Israel, one may use the distribution formalism developed for hypersurfaces to treat line sources. The line source model proposed by Israel to represent the Kerr metric in the neighborhood of its singular disk is shown to lead to a gravitational mass and angular momentum inconsistent with those of the latter metric. It is proposed to remove this difficulty by changing the assumptions made by Israel concerning the nature of the space-time inside the cylindrical shell which is the support of the distribution in the curvature tensor. The details of the effect of this change are not given in this paper. © 1980 American Institute of Physics.
