Coronal emission reflects the time-dependent and non-equilibrium processes connected with plasma dynamics, e.g. coronal heating or flaring activity. Impulsive coronal heating by nanoflares, whether by small-scale reconnection or waves is non-stationary and should produce non-equilibrium ionization and accelerated particles similar to reconnection processes in solar flares. Additionally, the presence of the high-energy non-Maxwellian tails of the particle distributions observed in-situ in the solar wind should indicate their presence in the solar corona.
The focus of this project is to study these complex non-equilibrium processes, with emphasis on their observational signatures in remote sensing measurements of the EUV and X-ray radiation. In particular, the team will investigate whether these signatures can be linked to the in-situ measurements of the solar wind, and whether these signatures can be distinguished from the effects of plasma inhomogeneities. To tackle these questions, the proposed ISSI International Team will bring together experts on diverse fields, ranging from atomic physics and spectroscopic observations to solar wind modeling. The Team will contribute to the international development of future space missions for an advanced study of the coronal dynamics and associated non-equilibrium processes, and pave the way e.g. for the interpretation of the future Solar Orbiter observations.

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