Determine the shear-to-magnetic-energy conversion and upward survival of photospheric KHI stress

Determine the product of the shear-to-magnetic-energy conversion efficiency and the fraction of that magnetic stress that survives upward transport through the chromosphere into the corona for DKIST-observed photospheric Kelvin–Helmholtz vortices.

Background

The paper estimates the shear-energy reservoir of photospheric Kelvin–Helmholtz vortices and the heating that could result if part of this reservoir becomes reconnecting magnetic free energy. However, the estimate depends on two unconstrained factors: the efficiency of converting shear energy into magnetic free energy and the survival or upward transport of that stress through the partially ionized chromosphere. Establishing their product is necessary to determine whether the observed vortices can contribute materially to coronal heating.

The MURaM calculation covers only about 500 km vertically and therefore does not demonstrate propagation from the photosphere through the chromosphere into the low corona. Coordinated simulations and observations of magnetic-field evolution, current layers, vertical Poynting flux, and field-line connectivity are identified as ways to address this unresolved issue.

References

The heating calculations in this Letter are based on energy budget estimation using DKIST observations and the recently obtained scaling laws of collisionless magnetic reconnection. However, they are not yet a proof that the DKIST observed vortices already heat the corona. The controlling unknown is the product of the shear-to-magnetic energy conversion and the upward survival of that stress through the chromosphere into corona.

— Photospheric Kelvin--Helmholtz Vortices as Possible Drivers of Coronal Heating: Implications of the DKIST Observations  (2608.12796 - Nykyri, 13 Aug 2026) in Section 1, Introduction; Section 5, Discussion and Conclusions

I cannot yet assign a solar conversion efficiency, because the lower solar atmosphere is partially ionized, stratified, and more collisional than the magentosheath-magnetopause-magnetosphere system.

— Photospheric Kelvin--Helmholtz Vortices as Possible Drivers of Coronal Heating: Implications of the DKIST Observations  (2608.12796 - Nykyri, 13 Aug 2026) in Section 1, Introduction

These waves can carry a substantial part of the local shear-energy surplus and can heat particles, but their solar efficiency is not known.

— 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