Influence of the Hall effect and electron inertia in collisionless magnetic reconnection

We study the role of the Hall current and electron inertia in collisionless magnetic reconnection within the framework of full two-fluid MHD. At spatial scales smaller than the electron inertial length, a topological change of magnetic field lines exclusively due to the electron inertia becomes possible. Assuming stationary conditions, we derive a theoretical scaling for the reconnection rate, which is simply proportional to the Hall parameter. Using a pseudo-spectral code with no dissipative effects, our numerical results confirm this theoretical scaling. In particular, for a sequence of different Hall parameter values, our numerical results show that the width of the current sheet is independent of the Hall parameter, while its thickness is of the order of the electron inertial range, thus confirming that the stationary reconnection rate is proportional to the Hall parameter. (C) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC.