Fast magnetic reconnection and the coalescence instability

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Abstract
The magnetic reconnection that occurs during the nonlinear development of the coalescence instability is considered. The structure of the reconnection region at the time of maximum current as a function of the resistivity η is analyzed in detail using a compressible magnetohydrodynamic fluid code. It is shown that the numerical results concur remarkably well with a simple scaling analysis which predicts the dependence of the reconnection region structure on η. It is argued that the flow topology is crucial in maintaining the ``fast'' reconnection rate. The results indicate a flux pileup solution in which the flux annihilation rate is approximately independent of η, whereas the Ohmic dissipation rate scales as η −1/3. The possibility that these scalings break down at lower values of η is discussed

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