Charged shells in general relativity and their gravitational collapse

The boundary conditions for the gravitational and electromagnetic fields on charged shells are formulated. The shells are characterized in geometrical terms and the boundary conditions are manifestly covariant. The formalism is applied to the study of the gravitational collapse of homogeneous charged spherical shells. The law of conservation of energy, obtained by integrating the equations of motion of the shell and interpreted in full analogy with the special theory of relativity, is the starting point in analyzing the equilibrium states and the motion of the shells. It is concluded that no charge, however high it may be, can stop the gravitational collapse of the shell below the upper Nordström radius.