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Title: What heats the solar corona above $1e6\ \mathrm{K}$?
Plain: Energy from churning gas below the surface must be carried up by magnetic fields and released in the corona; how it is released is unknown.
Precise: The quiet corona requires an energy flux of $\sim 3e5\ \mathrm{erg}\ \mathrm{cm}^{-2}\ \mathrm{s}^{-1}$ and active regions $\sim 1e7\ \mathrm{erg}\ \mathrm{cm}^{-2}\ \mathrm{s}^{-1}$. Determine the dominant dissipation mechanism: Alfven-wave turbulence, resonant absorption and phase mixing of waves, or nanoflares (small reconnection events) in braided fields. Answer: mechanisms with energy fluxes matching these requirements, by region type.
Settled by: Observations resolving the energy flux in waves and in small reconnection events at the base of the corona, matched to the required heating by region type.
Kind: phenomenon
Answer type: mechanism
References: (empty)
Literature status: open
Status note: (empty)
Posed since: (empty)