QED in strong fields

Abstract

We discuss the status of atomic physics in strong field. We focus on the problem of electron-positron lines observed in heavy-ion collisions and on QED effects, calculated in strong Coulomb fields, especially Delbr\"uck-scattering. We discuss the similarities and differences between these effects and channeling respectively beamstrahlung. We investigated the prospects for photon-channeling, calculated channeling from first principles on the basis of the Dirac equation, and determined the rate for electron-positron pair production in the collision of two high-energy particle pulses.