Convection-region solutions for the re-connexion of anti-parallel magnetic fields of unequal magnitude in an incompressible plasma

Abstract

We consider the flow of a highly conducting incompressible fluid in the convection region surrounding an X-type neutral line. The Sonnerup solution is generalized to include cases in which the in-flowing anti-parallel magnetic fields are of unequal magnitude, and in which the plasmas of the two in-flow regions have unequal density. It is found that there exists no unique solution for a given set of in-flow plasma parameters, but that the out-flowing plasma may exit within a certain range of angles with respect to the in-flow direction, depending on in-flow parameters.