Parallel sessions

Cool plasmas in a thermodynamically non-equilibrium state with a mixture of temperatures (from 10^6 K to 10^4 K or below) are ubiquitous in different astrophysical systems such as solar & stellar coronae, galactic and AGN outflows, the circumgalactic (CGM), interstellar (ISM) and intra-cluster (ICM) media. The role of these multiphase plasmas has been highlighted in mass and energy cycles at all such scales, from thermal non-equilibrium (TNE) cycles in the solar atmosphere to feedback cycles that regulate the formation of galaxies. The properties of the cool plasmas across these multiple scales is strikingly similar, intimately linked to the as-yet unclear but fundamental mechanisms of coronal and ICM heating and instabilities of thermal or other nature. Being so close, the solar corona constitutes a formidable astrophysics laboratory where we can spatially and temporally resolve the production and removal of such multiphase plasma. The solar atmospheric response to coronal heating occurs across wide spatial and energetic scales. At large coronal loop scales, TNE cycles manifest through puzzlingly week-long EUV intensity pulsations that may be detectable in other stars. At small (~100 km) scales, the solar atmospheric response to heating comes through the generation of cool coronal rain, the seed of prominences, whose properties are similar to that of multiphase filamentary structure in the ISM and ICM or to molecular loops in the Galactic centre. Furthermore, the prominences formed at a star's co-rotation radius are now thought to be significant contributors to the wind mass loss rate. The efficiency of these unique wind gauges depend, however, on their formation and destruction mechanisms. In the solar atmosphere, an increased production of rain is seen for stronger heating extending to flares, whose features seem recurrent in active stars. While the quantity and morphology of the cool material is now known to be closely linked to the spatio-temporal properties of coronal heating and to the thermal misbalance that result in the formation and destruction mechanisms of multiphase plasma has long been a subject of research in the ISM/ICM. Despite the exciting new cross-disciplinary possibilities offered by the multi-scale and multi-energetic manifestation of cool plasma across the universe, the research in these various fields has progressed mostly independently. Hence, the aim of this session is to consolidate our understanding of the effects of perturbed thermal equilibrium on various dynamic processes at multiple scales in the universe where multiphase plasmas are observed. Furthermore this meeting will identify and strengthen the links between these disciplines, boost this research field in the UK, and seed the ground for future national and international collaborations.