ABSTRACT
Magnetic reconnection is a phenomenon that is of particular importance in solar system plasmas. In the Earth's magnetosphere, magnetic reconnection in the magnetotail is thought to be the precursor for auroral sub-storms. The reduced- magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations are so-called because they do not contain the full range of MHD physics. The Sweet-Parker model concentrates on the dynamics of the current sheets that connect the magnetic islands. The main features of the envisioned magnetic and plasma flow fields in the vicinity of a given current sheet. The problem is that Sweet-Parker reconnection takes place far too slowly to account for many reconnection processes that are thought to take place in the solar system. One mechanism for obtaining fast magnetic reconnection is via the plasmoid instability. This instability causes Sweet-Parker current sheets to break up into chains of secondary magnetic islands.
