Atoms as Qed bound atoms

The relevance of Quantum Electrodynamics (Qed) in contemporary atomic structure theory is reviewed. Recent experimental advances allow both the production of heavy ions of high charge as well as the measurement of atomic properties with a precision never achieved before. The description of heavy atoms with few electrons via the successive incorporation of one, two, etcetera photons in a rigorous manner and within the bound state Furry representation of Qed is technically feasible. For many-electron atoms the many-body (correlation) effects are very important and it is practically impossible to evaluate all the relevant Feynman diagrams to the required accuracy. Thus, it is necessary to develop a theoretical scheme in which the radiative and nonradiative effects are taken into account in an effective way making emphasis in electronic correlation. Preserving gauge invariance, and avoiding both continuum dissolution and variational collapse are basic problems that must be solved when using effective potential methods and finite-basis representations of them. In this context, we shall discuss advances and problems in the description of atoms as Qed bound states. (Author)