Scaling of the magnetic reconnection rate with symmetric shear flow

The scaling of the reconnection rate during (fast) Hall magnetic reconnection in the presence of an oppositely directed bulk shear flow parallel to the reconnecting magnetic field is studied using two-dimensional numerical simulations of Hall reconnection with two different codes. Previous studies noted that the reconnection rate falls with increasing flow speed and shuts off entirely for super-Alfvenic flow, but no quantitative expression for the reconnection rate in sub-Alfvenic shear flows is known. An expression for the scaling of the reconnection rate is presented. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3609771]