Comparing Particle-in-Cell QED Models for High-Intensity Laser-Plasma Interactions

High-intensity lasers, such as the Texas Petawatt, are pushing into new regimes of laser-matter interaction, requiring continuing improvement and inclusion of new physics effects in computer simulations. Experiments at the Texas Petawatt are reaching intensity regimes where new physics---quantum electrodynamics (QED) corrections to otherwise classical plasma dynamics---becomes important. We have two particle-in-cell (PIC) codes with different QED implementations. We review the theory of photon emission in QED-strong fields, and cover the differing PIC implementations. We show predictions from the two codes and compare with ongoing experiments.