3-D hybrid simulations of magnetic reconnection in a thin current sheet Original Research Article

3-D hybrid simulations (ion particle, charge neutralizing massless electron fluid) of magnetic reconnection in a thin current sheet (thickness comparable to the relevant ion inertia length) are conducted. In this study, reconnection is initiated by putting localized anomalous resistivity. The thin current sheet, which models the near-Earth plasma sheet just before substorm onsets, is also unstable to the tail K-H instability that kinks the plasma sheet in the cross-tail plane. For smaller resistivity cases, the plasma sheet kink is already well developed by the time explosive reconnection starts. Despite this different circumstance, the temporal development of the reconnection jet is virtually unchanged from a high resistivity case reported previously. The structure of the reconnection jet is modified as it intrudes into the pre-existing kinked plasma sheet, but still, the essence of the ion kinetic response remains unchanged.