2D Numerical Simulation of the Resistive Reconnection Layer
Authors: D.A. Uzdensky and R.M. Kulsrud
Date of PPPL Report: July 2000
Submitted to: Physics of Plasmas
In this paper we present a two-dimensional numerical simulation of a reconnection current layer in incompressible resistive magnetohydrodynamics with uniform resistivity in the limit of very large Lundquist numbers. We use realistic boundary conditions derived consistently from the outside magnetic field, and we also take into account the effect of the backpressure from flow into the the separatrix region. We find that within a few Alfvén times the system reaches a steady state consistent with the Sweet-Parker model, even if the initial state is Petschek-like.