Wave Heating in the Solar corona with Kink waves

Objetivo

The solar corona is significantly hotter than the solar surface — a longstanding and unresolved phenomenon known as the coronal heating problem. One proposed explanation centres on Alfvén wave turbulence models. However, existing models fail to incorporate coronal loops and plumes, thereby overlooking key aspects of wave physics. Moreover, these models rely on additional, artificial heating terms to sustain the high temperatures observed in the solar corona, suggesting that a fundamental physical heating mechanism may be missing.
To address the limitations of current Alfvén wave turbulence models, we have developed a novel kink wave turbulence model that explains the high temperature of the solar corona through energy transport and dissipation via kink waves. This model explicitly incorporates coronal loops and plumes and is grounded in direct observations of high-power kink waves.
One-dimensional (1D) proof-of-concept studies have demonstrated that kink waves alone are capable of maintaining the high temperatures of the solar corona without the need for artificial heating mechanisms. However, the 1D approach does not capture the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the solar corona. To overcome this limitation, the WHiSKi project aims to extend the 1D kink wave turbulence model into a comprehensive 3D global coronal model. By comparing model predictions with observational data, we seek to identify the regions of the solar corona that are heated through kink wave turbulence, thereby contributing to resolving the coronal heating problem.
The resulting global coronal model will be made available to the space weather community through integration into ESA’s Virtual Space Weather Modelling Centre. By unifying kink wave-based global coronal models with heliospheric, magnetospheric, and ionospheric frameworks, this tool will enhance predictions of space weather phenomena and help mitigate their adverse effects on satellites, GPS systems, and power grids.