Magnetic field line reconnection in the frame of anisotropic MHD Original Research Article

Magnetic reconnection is a process which allows topological different magnetic fields to interconnect. Thus, in magnetospheric context, reconnection is strongly associated with substorm phenomena. Because many observations show a difference between the pressure parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field, it is reasonable to study the reconnection mechanism for the set of equations, involving a pressure tensor. Existing theoretical work for isotropic weak reconnection is extended for anisotropic theory. In particular, the reconnection associated discontinuities as the Alfvén discontinuity, the slow shock, and the contact discontinuity are generalized for anisotropic pressure.