Test the role of ion differential flows in resolving temperature discrepancies inferred from charge states and spectroscopy

Investigate, within global magnetohydrodynamic models coupled to non-equilibrium ionization, whether incorporating ion differential flows can reconcile the discrepancy between coronal temperatures inferred from in-situ charge-state ratios and those derived from spectroscopic coronal observations, and quantify their impact on predicted charge-state distributions.

Background

When discussing prior work on resolving mismatches between modeled and observed charge states, the authors note that suprathermal electron populations have been invoked successfully by other groups. They then highlight a distinct proposal by Esser and Edgar that ion differential flows could help explain discrepancies between coronal temperatures derived from in-situ charge states and those from spectroscopic imaging.

The authors explicitly state that this hypothesis has not yet been tested in global MHD/charge-state frameworks, identifying a concrete gap and a clear next step for model development and validation.