Guwahati: Researchers from Tezpur University have reported a major advance in solar physics, showing how high-energy particles can alter oscillations on the Sun’s surface and influence the transport of energy into its lower atmosphere — processes closely linked to solar activity and space weather.
The study, published recently in The Astrophysical Journal, examines how energetic electrons reshape the Sun’s natural vibrations and regulate the flow of energy from the solar surface into the outer atmospheric layers. The research was conducted by Souvik Das, a DST-INSPIRE senior research fellow, under the supervision of Prof. Pralay Kumar Karmakar of the Department of Physics, Tezpur University.
The Sun’s surface undergoes constant vibrations caused by naturally excited sound-like waves known as five-minute solar oscillations, making it behave like a giant resonator. Scientists have long believed that these oscillations help transport energy upward into the Sun’s atmosphere, but the role of high-energy particles in this process has remained largely unexplored.
In the study, the researchers developed an advanced theoretical model that incorporates both low-energy and high-energy electrons present in solar plasma. Unlike conventional approaches, the model captures the influence of fast-moving, nonthermal electrons on solar surface oscillations.
The findings show that increasing populations of high-energy electrons weaken certain solar waves, particularly pressure-driven p-mode oscillations. Strong nonthermal effects suppress wave activity and alter the way acoustic energy is redistributed in the Sun’s lower atmosphere.
This redistributed energy provides an additional source of power for spicules, microspicules and atmospheric waves, and plays a key role in heating the solar chromosphere and corona — layers that are much hotter than the Sun’s visible surface.
The researchers also proposed a hybrid decay model to explain how energy carried by p-mode oscillations gradually diminishes as it travels upward. Rather than dissipating abruptly, the energy fades steadily with height due to combined atmospheric and magnetic effects, offering a clearer picture of energy balance in the solar atmosphere.
The model’s predictions were validated using observations from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager aboard NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and data from Japan’s Hinode Solar Optical Telescope, reinforcing the real-world relevance of the findings.
A deeper understanding of energy transport within the Sun is critical not only for fundamental science but also for improving forecasts of solar storms and space-weather events that can disrupt satellites, power grids and communication systems on Earth.