DR. STEVEN TOMCZYK

Why the solar corona is heated to a million degree temperature is one of the most important outstanding problems in solar physics. One possibility is that the corona is heated by waves generated in the turbulent solar interior. Doppler imaging observations obtained recently by the speaker with the Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (CoMP) instrument reveal the existence of ubiquitous propagating Alfvén waves in the solar corona. These data present an exciting opportunity to probe the physical properties of the coronal plasma through coronal seismology. The speaker will discuss what the analysis of these waves can tell us about the coronal plasma and magnetic field, and if these observations support wave heating as the source of coronal heating.