A new paradigm for solar coronal heating

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new paradigm for solar coronal heating based on the kinetic theory of drift waves, aiming to address longstanding observational and theoretical challenges in explaining the high temperature of the Sun's corona.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach using drift wave kinetic theory as a potential solution to the coronal heating problem, challenging existing paradigms.

Findings

Drift waves can generate sufficient heating to explain coronal temperatures.

The proposed model aligns qualitatively and quantitatively with observational data.

A self-consistent framework for coronal heating is developed based on drift wave dynamics.

Abstract

The solar coronal heating problem refers to the question why the temperature of the Sun's corona is more than two orders of magnitude higher than that of its surface. Almost 70 years after the discovery, this puzzle is still one of the major challenges in astrophysics. The current basic paradigm of coronal heating is unable to explain all the observational features of the heating. Here we argue that a new paradigm is required to solve the puzzle in a self-consistent manner. The alternative approach is based on the kinetic theory of drift waves. We show, with qualitative and quantitative arguments, that the drift waves have the potential to satisfy all coronal heating requirements.