Strong QED has attracted attention recently partly because many astrophysicalphenomena have been observed to involve electromagnetic fields beyond thecritical strength for electron-positron pair production and partly becauseterrestrial experiments will generate electromagnetic fields above or near thecritical strength in the near future. In this talk we critically review QEDphenomena involving strong external electromagnetic fields. Strong QED ischaracterized by vacuum polarization due to quantum fluctuations and pairproduction due to the vacuum instability. A canonical method is elaborated forpair production at zero or finite temperature by inhomogeneous electric fields.An algorithm is advanced to calculate pair production rate for electric fieldsacting for finite periods of time or localized in space or oscillating electricfields. Finally, strong QED is discussed in astrophysics, in particular,strange stars.
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