  Turbulence, magnetic reconnection, and shocks can be present in explosively
unstable plasmas, forming a new electromagnetic environment, which we call here
turbulent reconnection, and where spontaneous formation of current sheets takes
place. We will show that the heating and the acceleration of particles is the
result of the synergy of stochastic (second order Fermi) and systematic (first
order Fermi) acceleration inside fully developed turbulence. The solar
atmosphere is magnetically coupled to a turbulent driver (the convection zone),
therefore the appearance of turbulent reconnection in the solar atmosphere is
externally driven. Turbulent reconnection, once it is established in the solar
corona, drives the coronal heating and particle acceleration.
