  The theoretical intensities of the soft X-ray Fe XVII lines arising from
2l-3l' transitions are reexamined using a three-ion collisional-radiative model
that includes the contributions to line formation of radiative recombination
(RR), dielectronic recombination (DR), resonant excitation (RE), and
inner-shell collisional ionization (CI), in addition to the usual contribution
of collisional excitation (CE). These additional processes enhance mostly the
2p-3s lines and not the 2p-3d lines. Under coronal equilibrium conditions, in
the electron temperature range of 400 to 600 eV where the Fe XVII line
emissivities peak, the combined effect of the additional processes is to
enhance the 2p-3s lines at 16.78, 17.05, and 17.10 A, by ~ 25%, 30%, and 55%,
respectively, compared with their traditional, single-ion CE values. The weak
2p-3d line at 15.45 A is also enhanced by up to 20%, while the other 2p-3d
lines are almost unaffected. The effects of DR and RE are found to be dominant
in this temperature range (400 - 600 eV), while that of CI is 3% at the most,
and the contribution of RR is less than 1%. At lower temperatures, where the Fe
XVII / Fe XVIII abundance ratio is high, the RE effect dominates. However, as
the temperature rises and the Fe XVIII abundance increases, the DR effect takes
over.
  The newly calculated line powers can reproduce most of the often observed
high values of the (I17.05 + I17.10) / I15.01 intensity ratio. The importance
of ionization and recombination processes to the line strengths also helps to
explain why laboratory measurements in which CE is essentially the sole
mechanism agree well with single-ion calculations, but do not reproduce the
astrophysically observed ratios.
