Sublimation Erosion and Survival Bounds for a Kreutz Sungrazing Comet

This paper examines whether a small sungrazing nucleus can survive its passage through the solar corona. Using only published input values and transparent formulae, the calculation obtains the following headline results: perihelion_AU = 0.005; solar_flux_at_perihelion_W_m2 = 5.4e+07; energy_limited_mass_flux_kg_m2_s = 20.1. The perihelion flux is about 5.4 x 10^7 watts per square metre. Inputs, formulae and limitations bearing on whether a small sungrazing nucleus can survive its passage through the solar corona are all declared in the text, and the accompanying script reproduces the full set of numbers without reliance on unpublished material. Agreement and disagreement with independent published estimates are reported at their actual size, and the conclusions are limited to what the budget arithmetic for a Kreutz-family fragment at a perihelion of five thousandths of an AU supports.