FORCED MAGNETIC-FIELD LINE RECONNECTION IN ELECTRON MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS

The forced reconnection of magnetic field lines within the framework o f electron magnetohydrodynamics (EMHD) has been investigated. A broad class of solutions that describe stationary reconnection have been fou nd. The time evolution of the plasma and of the magnetic field when pe rturbations are imposed from the boundary of a high conductivity plasm a slab are also studied. The initial magnetic field has a null surface . Following this discussion, the so-called Taylor's problem for EMHD i n which the perturbations cause a change in the topology of the magnet ic field has been solved. The plasma and the magnetic field are seen t o evolve with the time scale of the linear tearing mode. Their time ev olution is described by exponential dependences. Analytic and numerica l simulation results of the nonlinear regime of forced magnetic reconn ection in EMHD are also presented. Finally, the above results are comp ared with a case where the reconnection is mediated by dissipative ele ctron viscosity effects. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.