Fast reconnection of magnetic fields in a plasma

The reconnection process of magnetic fields in a plasma is analytically studied by perturbing the boundary conditions on a slab of incompressible plasma with a resonant surface inside. It is found, for small resistivity, that the reconnection takes place on an Alfvén time scale and continues into a slow time scale t1=η1/3t. Both time scales are faster than the usual tearing time scale. Furthermore, the plasma evolves globally from its initial equilibrium on the slow time scale and settles down to a different final equilibrium.