DYNAMIC MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IN 3 SPACE DIMENSIONS - FAN CURRENT SOLUTIONS

The problem of incompressible, nonlinear magnetic reconnection in thre e-dimensional ''open'' geometries is considered. An analytic treatment shows that dynamic ''fan current'' reconnection may be driven by supe rposing long wavelength, finite amplitude, plane wave disturbances ont o three-dimensional magnetic X-points. The nonlinear reconnection of t he field is preceded by an advection phase in which magnetic shear wav es drive large currents as they localize in the vicinity of the magnet ic null. Analytic arguments, reinforced by detailed simulations, show that the ohmic dissipation rate can be independent of the plasma resis tivity if the merging is suitably driven. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.