As much as we may point out the flaws in theories, sometimes they get things right. Back in 2004, Martin Laming theorized that magnetic fields can move the elements in the Sun’s outer layers around, causing the outermost layers to differ in composition from those below. He’s been plugging away on this work for many years, and finally, in 2020, observers published the data he needed to say, “Yes, my theory works.” 

Using observations by Satoru Katsuda and company and also 2015 data from B.R. Dennis and company, Laming has shown in a new paper accepted to The Astrophysical Journal that, I quote: The very same waves, when they hit the lower solar regions, cause the change in chemical composition, which we see in the corona as this material moves upwards. In this way, the coronal chemical composition offers a new way to understand waves in the solar atmosphere and new insights into the origins of solar activity.

So yes, theorists do get things right. Sometimes.

More Information

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory press release

“The FIP and Inverse FIP Effects in Solar Flares,” J. Martin Laming, to be published in The Astrophysical Journal (preprint on arxiv.org)