Fredagskollokvium: Kink wave excitation due to high-velocity excursions in the lower solar atmosphere

Interaction between intense magnetic features and convective flows on the solar surface have been proposed to excite waves which can carry energy to the upper solar atmosphere. The properties of these waves and their contribution to the heating of the upper solar atmosphere is still unclear.
In this work, we have studied the structure and dynamics of small magnetic elements in the lower solar atmosphere from several high-quality, (spatial and temporal) high-resolution time-series of images obtained by the Sunrise balloon-borne solar observatory.
We found large excursions (pulses; sometimes supersonic) in the proper motions of the magnetic elements that efficiently give rise to kink waves travelling along magnetic flux tubes. We show that these waves are marginally energetic enough to contribute to the heating of the quiet corona. Furthermore, we have investigated propagation of the kink waves as well as longitudinal waves (manifested in intensity fluctuations) at the small magnetic elements in the lower solar atmosphere.