Three-species collisionless reconnection:: Effect of O+ on magnetotail reconnection -: art. no. 175001

The nature of collisionless reconnection in a three-species plasma composed of a heavy species, protons, and electrons is examined. In addition to the usual two length scales present in two-species reconnection, there are two additional larger length scales in the system: one associated with a heavy whistler which produces a large scale quadrupolar out-of-plane magnetic field, and one associated with the heavy Alfven wave which can slow the outflow speed and thus the reconnection rate. The consequences for reconnection with O+ present in the magnetotail are discussed.