Turbulent magnetic reconnection in two dimensions

Two-dimensional numerical simulations of the effect of background turbulence on two-dimensional resistive magnetic reconnection are presented. For sufficiently small values of the resistivity (eta) and moderate values of the turbulent power (is an element of), the reconnection rate is found to have a much weaker dependence on eta than the Sweet-Parker scaling of eta(1/2) and is even consistent with an eta independent value. For a given value of eta, the dependence of the reconnection rate on the turbulent power exhibits a critical threshold in is an element of above which the reconnection rate is significantly enhanced.