Understanding some of the most fundamental problems in solar physics requires insight into the interaction between convective flows and magnetic fields at spatial scales near or below the resolution limit of modern observations. We analyzed the highest spatial resolution imaging observations of the solar photosphere ever acquired, obtained with the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST). The data captures small-scale, ubiquitous, highly dynamic corrugations along the edges of magnetic flux concentrations.  Analysis of the observations, together with numerical simulations performed with the MURaM code at comparable spatial resolution and with similar magnetic topology, demonstrates that these corrugations are caused by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI), driven by strong horizontal velocity shear at the interface between magnetized and weakly magnetized plasma. The observed and simulated properties of the instability also show good agreement with Chandrasekhar’s analytical model of KHI for a finite width shear layer.

In this seminar, I will present the main results of this work and discuss the implications of KHI for processes such as plasma mixing and magnetic flux braiding, as well as its potential contribution to heating the solar atmosphere.