It is hoped that, within the next few years, the LHC will open the door to
physics beyond the standard model, while the high intensity fields of
laser facilities such as Vulcan and ELI will allow us access to nonlinear
vacuum phenomena.
I will discuss the combination of high energy and high intensity in QED. I
will begin with a discussion of how one calculates when background fields
are present, describing the role of asymptotic coherent states and the
Furry picture.
Taking nonlinear Compton scattering as an example, I will describe some
typical intensity effects in QED before generalising to noncommutative
QED, where we will see noncommutative effects on particle propagation in
laser fields and intensity effects on experimental signals of
noncommutativity.