Modeling of the tearing instability in unreduced two-fluid magnetohydrodynamics

The problem of the tearing instability is solved numerically in cylindrical geometry by using the unreduced two-fluid MHD model. It is shown that the duration of the nonlinear stage of the tearing instability in a hot plasma is rather sensitive to such factors as the initial radial density and temperature profiles, the initial ion-to-electron pressure ratio, and the longitudinal thermal conductivity. Depending on these factors, the two-fluid effects (primarily, the Hall effect) can either greatly hasten the magnetic reconnection process (in comparison to that in the one-fluid MHD model) or greatly slow it. An illustrative explanation of the results obtained is given.