Evidence of ubiquitous Alfvén pulses transporting energy from the photosphere to the upper chromosphere

The multi-million degree temperature increase from the middle to the upper solar atmosphere is one of the most fascinating puzzles in plasma-astrophysics. Although magnetic waves might transport enough energy from the photosphere to heat up the local chromosphere and corona, observationally validating their ubiquity has proved challenging. Here, we show observational evidence that ubiquitous Alfvén pulses are excited by prevalent intensity swirls in the solar photosphere. Correlation analysis between swirls detected at different heights in the solar atmosphere, together with realistic numerical simulations, show that these Alfvén pulses propagate upwards and reach chromospheric layers. We found that Alfvén pulses carry sufficient energy flux (1.9 to 7.7 kW m −2 ) to balance the local upper chromospheric energy losses (~0.1 kW m −2 ) in quiet regions. Whether this wave energy flux is actually dissipated in the chromosphere and can lead to heating that balances the losses is still an open question. Heating of the upper solar atmospheric layers is an open question. Here, the authors show observational evidence that ubiquitous Alfven pulses are excited by prevalent photospheric swirls, which are found to propagate upwards and carry enough energy flux needed to balance the local upper chromospheric energy loss.