# Why Does the Solar Corona Abnormally Rotate Faster Than the Photosphere?

## TL;DR

This study uses spectral irradiance data over 14 years to reveal that the solar corona rotates faster than the photosphere, suggesting small-scale magnetic activity as a key factor in coronal heating.

## Contribution

First measurement showing the corona's faster rotation than the photosphere, linking magnetic activity to coronal heating.

## Key findings

- Coronal plasma rotation period: 26.3 days.
- Photospheric magnetic structure rotation period: 27.5 days.
- Coronal rotation consistently faster across solar cycle phases.

## Abstract

Coronal heating is a big question for modern astronomy. Daily measurement of 985 solar spectral irradiances (SSIs) at the spectral intervals 1-39 nm and 116-2416 nm during March 1 2003 to October 28 2017 is utilized to investigate characteristics of solar rotation in the solar atmosphere by means of the Lomb \,-\, Scargle periodogram method to calculate their power spectra. The rotation period of coronal plasma is obtained to be 26.3 days, and that of the solar atmosphere at the bottom of the photosphere modulated by magnetic structures is 27.5 days. Here we report for the first time that unexpectedly the coronal atmosphere is found to rotate faster than the underlying photosphere. When time series of SSIs are divided into different cycles, and the ascending and descending periods of a solar cycle, rotation rate in the corona is also found to be larger than that in the photosphere, and this actually gives hidden evidence: it is small-scale magnetic activity that heats the corona.