Force-free equilibria and reconnection of the magnetic field lines in collisionless plasma configurations

The plasma equilibrium in the force-free magnetic field in the framework of collisionless approximation is investigated. The equilibrium solution of the Vlasov-Maxwell equations, describing the distribution function of charged particles in the one-dimensional force-free magnetic field is obtained. It is shown that such a magnetic field can exist in plasma with anisotropic temperatures. Then, the tearing-mode instability of this configuration is investigated, and the results of 2D3V PIC (two coordinates and three velocity components particle-in-cell) simulations of the magnetic field lines reconnection during nonlinear development of the tearing-mode instability of the collisionless force-free equilibrium are presented. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.