  Within the quiet Sun corona imaged at 1 MK, much of the field of view
consists of diffuse emission that appears to lack the spatial structuring that
is so evident in coronal loops or bright points. We seek to determine if these
diffuse regions are categorically different in terms of their intensity
fluctuations and spatial configuration from the more well-studied dynamic
coronal features. We analyze a time series of observations from Solar Orbiter's
High Resolution Imager in the Extreme Ultraviolet to quantify the
characterization of the diffuse corona at high spatial and temporal
resolutions. We then compare this to the dynamic features within the field of
view, mainly a coronal bright point. We find that the diffuse corona lacks
visible structuring, such as small embedded loops, and that this is persistent
over the 25 min duration of the observation. The intensity fluctuations of the
diffuse corona, which are within +/-5%, are significantly smaller in comparison
to the coronal bright point. Yet, the total intensity observed in the diffuse
corona is of the same order as the bright point. It seems inconsistent with our
data that the diffuse corona is a composition of small loops or jets or that it
is driven by discrete small heating events that follow a power-law-like
distribution. We speculate that small-scale processes like MHD turbulence might
be energizing the diffuse regions, but at this point we cannot offer a
conclusive explanation for the nature of this feature.
