On the basic physical mechanism of fast reconnection development Original Research Article

Flare phenomena observed in space plasmas are understood to result from the drastic transition from an equilibrium of high magnetic energy to another one of the lowest magnetic energy through magnetic reconnection. Therefore, an essential question must be: Coupled to nonideal effects, can the fast reconnection process develop and be eventually realized in space plasmas? We have proposed the spontaneous fast reconnection model, which suggests a new-type nonlinear instability in a long current sheet system. The present paper examines on the basis of the spontaneous fast reconnection model how the fast reconnection mechanism develops in a variety of physical situations. It is demonstrated that the formation and propagation of a large-scale (symmetric or asymmetric) plasmoid and the strong magnetic loop heating directly result from this theoretical model.