Explosive Coalescence of Magnetic Islands

An explosive reconnection process associated with nonlinear evolution of the coalescence instability is found through studies of particle and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. The explosive coalescence is a self-similar process of magnetic collapse, in which the magnetic and electrostatic energies and temperatures explode toward the explosion time to as (to - t)-8/3 (to - t)-4, and (to - t)-8/3, respectively. Ensuing amplitude oscillations in these quantities are identified by deriving an equation of motion for the scale factor in the Sagdeev potential. A possible application to the impulsive phase of solar flares is offered.