Nonlinear processes in Hamiltonian reconnection

The generation of small spatial scales and their interplay with large scale coherent structures is one of the outstanding phenomena of plasma physics and fluid mechanics. In high temperature space and laboratory plasmas dissipative effects become important at length scales that are much smaller than those where microscopic dynamical effects, related e.g., to electron inertia, come into play. Here we discuss the role of this dissipationless small scale dynamics on the nonlinear evolution of collisionless magnetic reconnection within the framework of the so called "two-field" and "four-field models". (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved