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Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

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The Sun Shouldn’t Be This Hot… But New Shockwave Discovery Explains Why

For decades, scientists have been puzzled by one of the biggest questions in solar physics:

Why is the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, millions of degrees hotter than its surface?

This seems completely backwards. The Sun’s surface (photosphere) is about 5,500°C, but the corona can reach temperatures of over 1 million°C. That is like moving away from a fire and suddenly getting hotter instead of cooler.

A new study has revealed a fascinating piece of this mystery—tiny, powerful plasma structures called pseudo-shocks that may be quietly pumping energy into the Sun’s atmosphere.

🌟 The Solar Corona: A Region Full of Mystery

The corona is the glowing outer layer of the Sun, visible during a total solar eclipse as a bright white halo. It is made of extremely hot, thin plasma.

To stay this hot, the corona needs a continuous energy supply of around:
~10³ W/m² (about 1000 watts per square meter)

This energy is constantly lost through radiation, so something must keep feeding it.

Scientists have long suspected several possible sources:

  • Magnetic reconnection (breaking and reconnecting magnetic field lines)

  • Plasma waves

  • Shock waves

  • Fast-moving solar flows

But no single explanation has been enough to fully solve the problem.

🔥 The Role of Sunspots and Magnetic Loops

On the Sun’s surface, dark regions called sunspots appear. These are cooler areas with extremely strong magnetic fields.

Above sunspots, magnetic field lines rise into the corona and form giant loops filled with hot plasma. These loops are like highways where energy and matter move.

In these regions:

  • Plasma flows continuously

  • Magnetic energy builds up and releases suddenly

  • Waves and disturbances travel upward

This makes sunspot regions one of the most active and energetic parts of the Sun.

👁️ A Breakthrough Observation by Scientists

Using high-resolution time-series data from NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission, a team led by Srivastava and collaborators studied ultraviolet light emitted by the Sun, specifically the C II 1330 Å spectral line, which reveals activity in the lower solar atmosphere.

What they found was surprising.

Instead of normal shock waves, they observed something unusual:
👉 Pseudo-shocks forming around a sunspot region

These structures behave differently from typical shock waves.

⚡ What Are Pseudo-Shocks?

In normal shock waves:

  • Both density and pressure change suddenly

  • Energy is strongly compressed and released

But in pseudo-shocks:

  • Only mass density changes sharply

  • Pressure and other properties do not behave like a normal shock

So they are not fully “true shocks,” but still powerful enough to disturb plasma significantly.

Think of them like:

A fast-moving crowd wave where only the density of people changes, not the overall pressure of movement.

🧪 What the Simulation Revealed

To understand these structures better, the researchers used two-fluid numerical simulations, which model plasma as interacting ions and electrons.

The simulation reproduced the same behavior seen in observations:

  • Pseudo-shocks forming in magnetized plasma

  • Rarefied (low-density) regions trailing behind them

  • Confined, structured energy transport

This confirmed that these are not random patterns but real physical processes.

⚡ A Surprising Discovery: Huge Energy Transport

One of the most important findings was the energy carried by these pseudo-shocks:

👉 Around ~10³ W/m²

This is extremely important because:

  • It matches the energy required to heat the corona locally

  • It is large enough to significantly affect surrounding plasma

In simple terms, these pseudo-shocks are not weak disturbances.
They are powerful energy carriers inside the Sun’s atmosphere.

🌬️ They Also Move Solar Material

Along with energy, pseudo-shocks also transport mass.

The study found mass flow rates of approximately:
👉 ~10⁻⁵ kg m⁻² s⁻¹

This means:

  • They push solar plasma upward

  • They contribute to continuous material movement in the corona

  • They help feed the outer solar atmosphere

So they are not just heating the corona—they are also feeding it with matter.

🌍 Why This Discovery Matters

The Sun is not just a glowing ball of gas—it is a dynamic, magnetic system that directly affects Earth through:

  • Solar winds

  • Space weather storms

  • Coronal mass ejections

Understanding how the corona is heated is crucial because it affects:

  • Satellite communication

  • GPS systems

  • Power grids on Earth

  • Astronaut safety

If pseudo-shocks are widespread, they could represent a major missing piece in solar physics.

🌞 A New Possible Answer to the Coronal Heating Problem

For years, scientists have debated the coronal heating problem. Many theories exist, but none fully explain everything.

This new research suggests:

✔ Small-scale localized events matter more than expected
✔ Energy does not only come from large solar explosions
✔ Continuous micro-structures may maintain coronal heat

If pseudo-shocks exist across many active regions, they could collectively:

  • Provide constant heating

  • Drive plasma flows

  • Maintain the corona’s extreme temperature

🔭 What Makes This Discovery Unique?

There are three reasons this finding is important:

1. It is based on real observational data

Using IRIS spacecraft observations gives it strong scientific reliability.

2. It is supported by simulations

The same structures were reproduced in computer models.

3. It explains both energy and mass transport

Most theories explain one or the other—not both.

🌌 The Bigger Picture

The Sun is not controlled by one big mechanism. Instead, it behaves like a complex system where:

  • Small events add up

  • Magnetic fields constantly reshape plasma

  • Energy is transferred in hidden ways

Pseudo-shocks show that even subtle structures can have huge effects when they occur across large regions.

🚀 What Scientists Will Study Next

This discovery opens new questions:

  • Are pseudo-shocks present everywhere on the Sun or only near sunspots?

  • How often do they occur?

  • Can they explain solar wind acceleration?

  • Do they interact with magnetic reconnection events?

Future missions and higher-resolution solar telescopes may help answer these.

🌞 Final Thought

This study reveals a fascinating idea:
The Sun’s corona may not be heated by one dramatic process, but by countless tiny, hidden energy bursts happening all the time.

Pseudo-shocks could be one of those hidden engines—quietly powering the Sun’s outer atmosphere and reshaping how we understand our closest star.

And the most exciting part?
We are just beginning to see them.

Reference: Srivastava, A.K., Murawski, K., Kuźma, B. et al. Confined pseudo-shocks as an energy source for the active solar corona. Nat Astron 2, 951–956 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-018-0590-1

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