Magnetic reconnection solutions in the presence of multiple nulls

It is known that exact analytic solutions can be constructed for incompress ible magnetic reconnection in three space dimensions. In the case of an iso lated X-point null, there are two types of reconnection solutions, namely, "spine" and "fan" models, which depend on the form of the X-point disturban ce. However, such models cannot describe multiple null "separator" reconnec tion, for which there is independent observational evidence. Here we show t hat the spine formalism naturally extends to the case of multiple null fiel ds. Solutions showing the characteristics of fan, spine, and separator are described, and a discussion is given of their energy dissipation properties . We demonstrate a family of multiple null, fast reconnection solutions and point out that the classical Sweet-Parker dissipation rate is the slowest that can be achieved with the present models.