Abstract We shall review the theories of the tearing mode instability and its implications for the reconnection process in the magnetotail. It is shown that in the thin plasma sheet whose width is comparable to the ion inertial length, the Hall current effect is important. The Hall current effect has not been taken into account so far in the collisionless tearing mode theory. It is argued that the previous collisionless tearing mode theory would not be complete, since the neglect of the Hall current effect leads to an artificial exclusion of the vorticity excitation term from the basic governing equations of the instability.
On the microphysics of the magnetotail reconnection region
Advances in Space Research ; 4 , 2-3 ; 429-438
1984-01-01
10 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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