Mixer Waves of the Solar Wind: How the Corona Heats Up ⚡ экспресс
Data from the Parker Solar Probe shows that ion-scale waves with circular polarization dominate the inner heliosphere. Left-hand polarized waves (ion-cyclotron) are observed more frequently near the Sun — up to 30% of the time — and are associated with prolonged wave storms, which transfer energy from proton temperature anisotropy (difference in temperatures along and across the field). Right-hand polarized waves (fast magnetosonic) correlate with enhanced proton heat flux; a machine learning algorithm identified a threshold beyond which these waves become unstable. Like invisible channels, they guide energy through the solar wind, unveiling the mechanisms of turbulent heating.
The solar wind isn't a calm stream but a bubbling soup of charged particles. Diving close to the Sun, the Parker probe picked up two types of stirring waves. Left-handed ones, like a whisk in a chef's hand, whip up the material when the temperature differs along and across the flow. They rage nearly a third of the time near the star, boosting the share of the fastest particles — much like a mixer pushing foam to the surface.
Right-handed waves
Fine analysis of light (spectroscopy) and machine learning captured the moment when thermal jets give birth to right-handed waves. Paradoxically, it's this invisible ripple, not grand eruptions, that heats the giant corona — its temperature is hundreds of times that of the solar surface. The rhythm of these waves determines space weather near Earth.
🎯 The solar wind carries away about the mass of Mount Everest every minute.