Abstract
My task in these lectures, set by the organizers, is to review basic concepts of quantum electrodynamics (QED) and to describe some applications of QED to problems of current interest in atomic physics in which relativistic effects are important. Since the subject had its beginnings almost sixty years ago, with Dirac’s quantization of the radiation field and his discovery of the relativistic wave equation for the electron, five hours is too small by at least an order of magnitude to do it even partial justice. In the review part, I hope to avoid displeasing some of the audience all of the time or all of the audience some of the time - not to mention all of the audience all of the time - by assuming only an average memory for things learned long ago by some of you but not much used, by taking shortcuts wherever possible and by emphasizing aspects which are either not well known or not discussed clearly in textbooks.
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References
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Sucher, J. (1986). Qed and Relativity in Atomic Physics. In: Briand, J.P. (eds) Atoms in Unusual Situations. Nato ASI Series, vol 143. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9337-6_11
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