E. Alec Johnson

E. Alec Johnson, James A. Rossmanith

For the first time to our knowledge, we demonstrate fast magnetic reconnection near a magnetic null point in a fluid model of collisionless pair plasma without resorting to the contrivance of anomalous resistivity. In particular, we demonstrate that fast reconnection occurs in an anisotropic adiabatic two-fluid model of collisionless pair plasma with relaxation toward isotropy for a broad range of isotropization rates. For very rapid isotropization we see fast reconnection, but instabilities eventually arise that cause numerical error and cast doubt on the simulated behavior.