Detect KHI-driven kinetic waves above photospheric vortices

Detect Kelvin–Helmholtz-driven kinetic waves above DKIST-observed photospheric vortices and establish whether they provide a solar analogue of the particle-heating pathway observed in magnetospheric KHI events.

Background

The paper maps magnetospheric KHI wave scales to the 65-km photospheric wavelength observed by DKIST and finds that the inferred waves would remain larger than characteristic coronal ion kinetic scales. This suggests that higher-wavenumber modes may be required, but the proposed wave-heating pathway remains observationally unverified above the photospheric vortices.

References

Wave heating is thus a plausible complementary channel, although it has not yet been detected above the DKIST vortices.

— Photospheric Kelvin--Helmholtz Vortices as Possible Drivers of Coronal Heating: Implications of the DKIST Observations  (2608.12796 - Nykyri, 13 Aug 2026) in Section 5, Cross-Scale Wave Heating