Magnetic Reconnection: Collisionless Regimes

Recent efforts on the theory of magnetic reconnection in collisionless regimes are reviewed. The differences between dissipative and collisionless reconnection are discussed. The results of simulations obtained with a new, initial value, finite volume code are presented. The initial equilibrium is a tanh x for the magnetic field component along y; while a strong guide field along the ignorable z direction is assumed. The configuration is periodic along y; while perturbations are assumed to vanish at large |x|.