# References

As is well known, magnetic reconnection is a very important physical phenomena in many astrophysical objects. It is believed that, magnetic reconnection can serve as such a mechanism to transfer the magnetic energy into heat and kinetic energy of the plasma .

Generally, due to the nonlinearity of the MHD equations, it is very difficult to find its analytic solutions. We have to turn to the numerical simulations. But, unfortunately, numerical simulations are usually limited by artificial resistivity and the implementation of sensible boundary conditions .

Anyway, the exact analytic solutions are needed and helpful. On one hand, they can provide the important insights into the problem concerned, and on the other hand, they can be used to test the relevant numerical methods. Just based on the beautiful exact solutions, Parker found that, diffusion is an essential part of the reconnection of lines of force at a neutral point . Since then, a lot of excellent analytic solutions have been found and applied to analyze some concrete models .

Recently, Watson, Craig and Henton etc. have made a great progress in searching for the exact solutions . They found that, exact families of reconnection solutions can be constructed in both two and three dimensions, and, these solutions display the essential characteristics of fast reconnection. Furthermore, they have shown that, the reconnection solutions can be obtained by superposing the velocity and magnetic fields of simple magnetic annihilation model.

So, annihilation model can provide a solid basis for our understanding the reconnection process. Up to now, there are few works on the time-dependent case . Most of the previous works in searching for the exact solutions concerntrate on the case of the steady MHD. But, it is desired to remove the restrictions of stationarity and incompressiblety etc. for the realistic application.

In this paper, we present two time-dependent analytic solutions of the incompressible MHD. We begin by introducing the basic equations in section 1. The solutions are obtained in section 2. And, the relevant physics indicated by the solutions is analysized in section 3. Finally, the conclusions are summarized in section 4.

1. The Basic Equations

The incompressible MHD equations can be written as the following nondimensional form :

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{v}}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`(\stackrel{}{v})\stackrel{}{v}P+(\times \stackrel{}{B})\times \stackrel{}{B}`$ (1)   
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{B}}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`\times (\stackrel{}{v}\times \stackrel{}{B})+\eta ^2\stackrel{}{B}`$ (2)   
$`\stackrel{}{B}`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (3)   
$`\stackrel{}{v}`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (4)   
where the length, magnetic field $`\stackrel{}{B}`$, velocity $`\stackrel{}{v}`$, time $`t`$, gas pressure $`P`$ and the resistivity $`\eta `$ have been non-dimensionalized by the typical coronal parameters - length-scale $`L_c`$, background field strength $`B_c`$, Alfven speed $`v_A=B_c/(8\pi \rho )^{1/2}`$, Alfven travel time $`\tau _A=L_c/v_A`$, magnetic pressure $`B_c^2/(8\pi )`$ and $`v_AL_c`$ respectively.

By taking the curl of Eq.(1), we can remove $`P`$ in above equations and get

$$\frac{(\times \stackrel{}{v})}{t}=\times [(\stackrel{}{v})\stackrel{}{v}]+\times [(\times \stackrel{}{B})\times \stackrel{}{B}]$$
(5)   
Now, we need to deal with Eqs.(2, 3, 4, 5). Once we solve them and get $`\stackrel{}{v}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{B}`$, we can calculate the pressure $`P`$ according to Eq.(1).

2. Magnetic Annihilation Solution

In order to solve Eqs.(2, 3, 4, 5), suppose that $`\stackrel{}{B},\stackrel{}{v}`$ have the following forms

$`\stackrel{}{B}`$ $`=`$ $`\{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0},Y(x,t),\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}0}\}`$ (6)   
$`\stackrel{}{v}`$ $`=`$ $`\{U(x,t),yV(x,t),\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}0}\}`$ (7)   
for the annihilation solution. Here, $`U,V,Y`$ are the functions of $`x`$ and $`t`$. And thus, Eq.(3) is satisfied automatically.

Now, Eqs.(4, 5) and Eq.(2) give

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}U(x,t)+V(x,t)`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (8)   
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}V(x,t)+U(x,t){\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}V(x,t)+V(x,t)^2+f(t)`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (9)   
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}Y(x,t)+{\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}(U(x,t)Y(x,t))\eta {\displaystyle \frac{^2}{x^2}}Y(x,t)`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (10)   
where, $`f(t)`$ is a function of $`t`$ to be determined later by the boundary condition.

If we further suppose that

$$U(x,t)=U(x)g(t)$$

from Eq.(8), it is evident that

$$V(x,t)=V(x)g(t).$$

Substitute the above two equations into Eqs.(8, 9), we achieve

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}g(t)+c_1g(t)^2`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (11)   
$`f(t)+c_2g(t)^2`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (12)   
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}U(x)+V(x)`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (13)   
$`U(x){\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}V(x)+V(x)^2c_1V(x)c_2`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (14)   
with $`c_i(i=1,2,3,\mathrm{})`$ being the (integral) constants. Now, we are in position to state how to solve $`g(t),U(x)`$ and $`V(x)`$ from the above equations.

Eq.(11) tells us that

$$g(t)=\frac{1}{c_1t+c_3}.$$
(15)   
Starting out from Eq.(13, 14), we can obtain two solutions.

A. Take $`U(x)`$ as the linear function of $`x`$, then we have

$`U(x)`$ $`=`$ $`c_4x+c_5`$ (16)   
$`V(x)`$ $`=`$ $`c_4`$ (17)   
$`c_2`$ $`=`$ $`c_1c_4+c_4^2.`$ (18)   
B. Let $`U(x)=P(x)+c_4`$, and substitute it into Eqs.(13, 14), we arrive at

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}P(x)+V(x)`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (19)   
$`P(x){\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}V(x)+V(x)^2+c_4{\displaystyle \frac{}{x}}V(x)c_1V(x)c_2`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (20)   
if we further have $`P(x)=c_5V(x)`$ and $`\frac{}{x}V(x)=c_6V(x)`$, Eqs.(19, 20) can be satisfied easily. Then, we get

$`V(x)`$ $`=`$ $`c_7e^{c_6x}`$ (21)   
$`U(x)`$ $`=`$ $`c_5c_7e^{c_6x}+c_4`$ (22)   
$`c_6c_4`$ $`=`$ $`c_1`$ (23)   
$`c_5c_6`$ $`=`$ $`1`$ (24)   
$`c_2`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (25)   
In the next step, inserting these solutions into Eq.(10), we can finally solve the magnetic field.

To give a feeling on the form of the magnetic field $`\stackrel{}{B}`$, let us consider the asymptotic solution of $`Y(x,t)`$. When $`\eta 0`$, Eq.(10) is simplified as

$$\frac{}{t}Y(x,t)+\frac{}{x}(U(x,t)Y(x,t))=0.$$
(26)   
Take Eqs.(15, 16) and Eq.(22) into account, we get

$$Y(x,t)=c_9\frac{(c_1t+c_3)^{\frac{c_8}{c_1}}}{(c_4x+c_5)^{1+\frac{c_8}{c_4}}}$$
(27)   
for solution A, and

$$Y(x,t)=c_9e^{c_6x}(c_4e^{c_6x}+c_5c_7)^{\frac{c_8}{c_4c_6}1}(c_1t+c_3)^{\frac{c_8}{c_1}}$$
(28)   
for solution B.

With a suitable choice of the relevant constants, we can obtain

$`Y(x,t)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{x^3(t+1)^2}}`$ (29)   
$`Y(x,t)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{e^x}{(e^x1)^3(t+1)^2}}`$ (30)   
corresponding to A and B. Here, the singularity exists evidently at the neutral interface $`x=0`$ for both A and B. The presence of the singularity is naturally unavoidable when diffusion vanishes, as discussed by Parker .

Eq.(10) tells us taht, $`Y(x,t)`$ can not be simply decomposed as the form of $`X(x)T(t)`$, after the similar supposition for $`U(x,t)`$ is made. To solve the magnetic field $`\stackrel{}{B}`$ analytically, a certain transformation is needed.

For solution A, $`U(x,t)=\frac{c_4x+c_5}{c_1t+c_3}`$. Suppose $`Y(x,t)=Y(s)`$, and

$$s=(c_4x+c_5)(c_1t+c_3)^\alpha $$
(31)   
with $`\alpha =\frac{1}{2}`$, Eq.(10) can be transformed into

$$\eta \frac{^2}{s^2}Y(s)+\frac{c_12c_4}{2c_4^2}s\frac{}{s}Y(s)\frac{1}{c_4}Y(s)=0.$$
(32)   
and for solution B, $`U(x,t)=\frac{c_5c_7e^{c_6x}+c_4}{c_1t+c_3}`$, similarly, let

$$s=c_5c_7e^{c_6x}(c_1t+c_3)^\alpha $$
(33)   
with $`\alpha =1`$, Eq.(10) can be read as

$$c_6\eta s\frac{^2}{s^2}Y(s)+(\eta c_6s)\frac{}{s}Y(s)Y(s)=0.$$
(34)   
Now, the partial differential equation Eq.(10) has been transformed into the ordinary differential equations, whose solutions can be expressed as special functions. The solutions of Eq.(32) and Eq.(34) are

$$Y(s)=C_1{}_{\mathrm{𝟏}}{}^{}𝐅_{\mathrm{𝟏}}^{}[\frac{c_4}{c_12c_4},\frac{1}{2},\frac{(c_1+2c_4)s^2}{4c_4^2\eta }]+sC_2{}_{\mathrm{𝟏}}{}^{}𝐅_{\mathrm{𝟏}}^{}[\frac{1}{2}\frac{c_4}{c_12c_4},\frac{3}{2},\frac{(c_1+2c_4)s^2}{4c_4^2\eta }]$$
(35)   
and

$$Y(s)=C_1e^{\frac{s}{c_6\eta }}+C_2e^{\frac{s}{c_6\eta }}𝚪[0,\frac{s}{c_6\eta }]$$
(36)   
respectively. Here, $`C_1,C_2`$ are the integral constants, $`{}_{\mathrm{𝟏}}{}^{}𝐅_{\mathrm{𝟏}}^{}`$ is the Kummer confluent hypergeometric function while $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ the incomplete gamma function.

Up to now, we have obtained two classes of the exact analytic solutions for both velocity field and magnetic field. We would like to give a short comment here. It is deserved to note that, Eqs.(31, 33) are actually the scale transformation with time $`t`$ as the scaling factor. So, our solutions will perform certain scaling characteristic, i.e., when the velocity fields are taken as Eqs.(16, 22, 15), the evolution of the magnetic field with time decribed by the solution of Eq.(10), can be described by the solution of the ordinary differential equation Eqs.(32, 34) dilated simply by time $`t`$ according to $`(c_1t+c_3)^\alpha `$.

3. Physical Characteristics of the Solution

In this section, we discuss the physics implied by the above solutions. In doing so, we have to fix the free parameters. The relevant functions are taken as

$$g(t)=\frac{1}{t+1}$$
(37)   
together with

$`U(x)`$ $`=`$ $`x`$ (38)   
$`V(x)`$ $`=`$ $`1`$ (39)   
for solution A, and

$`U(x)`$ $`=`$ $`e^x1`$ (40)   
$`V(x)`$ $`=`$ $`e^x`$ (41)   
for solution B. In fact, there is another possible choice such as $`U(x)=1e^x,V(x)=e^x`$ with g(t) given by Eq.(37) for the flow field of the annihilation solution, but it is very similiar to the one given by Eq.(40,41), so we will not discuss it here.

The velocity field for solutions A and B are

$$\stackrel{}{v}=\{\frac{x}{t+1},\frac{y}{t+1},\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}0}\}$$
(42)   
and

$$\stackrel{}{v}=\{\frac{e^x1}{t+1},\frac{ye^x}{t+1},\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}0}\}$$
(43)   
respectively. They are symmetric (for A) or asymmetric (for B) stagnation-point flow weakening with time. For asymmetric case - solution B, the flow field is shown in Fig.1.

With the given velocity fields $`U(x,t)`$, the equation of magnetic field $`B(x,t)`$ can be read as

$$\eta \frac{^2}{s^2}Y(s)+\frac{3}{2}s\frac{}{s}Y(s)+Y(s)=0$$
(44)   
with the solution

$$Y(s)=Cs{}_{\mathrm{𝟏}}{}^{}𝐅_{\mathrm{𝟏}}^{}[\frac{5}{6},\frac{3}{2},\frac{3s^2}{4\eta }](s=\frac{x}{\sqrt{t+1}})$$
(45)   
and

$$\eta s\frac{^2}{s^2}Y(s)+(s+\eta )\frac{}{s}Y(s)+Y(s)=0$$
(46)   
with the solution

$$Y(s)=Ce^{\frac{s}{\eta }}(𝚪[0,\frac{s}{\eta }]𝚪[0,\frac{1}{\eta }])(s=\frac{e^x}{t+1})$$
(47)   
for A and B correspondingly. To determine the relevant constants, $`Y|_{x=0,t=0}=0`$ and $`\frac{Y}{x}|_{x=0,t=0}=C`$ are required here.

With the known magnetic fields, we can now solve the current and the energy dissipation rate by Joule heat. Based on Eqs.(45, 47), we achieve

$$j(x,t)=C\{\frac{1}{\sqrt{t+1}}{}_{\mathrm{𝟏}}{}^{}𝐅_{\mathrm{𝟏}}^{}[\frac{5}{6},\frac{3}{2},\frac{3x^2}{4\eta (t+1)}]\frac{5x^2}{6\eta (t+1)^{3/2}}{}_{\mathrm{𝟏}}{}^{}𝐅_{\mathrm{𝟏}}^{}[\frac{11}{6},\frac{5}{2},\frac{3x^2}{4\eta (t+1)}]\}$$
(48)   
for solution A, and

$$j(x,t)=C\{1+\frac{1}{\eta (t+1)}e^{\frac{e^x}{\eta (t+1)}x}(𝚪[0,\frac{e^x}{\eta (t+1)}]𝚪[0,\frac{1}{\eta }])\}$$
(49)   
for solution B. Finally, according to

$$𝒲_\eta =<\eta j^2>=\eta j(x,t)^2𝑑V$$
(50)   
we can calculate the power provided by Ohmic dissipation.

The dependence of $`B(x,t),j(x,t)`$ on $`(x,t)`$ and $`𝒲_\eta `$ on time $`t`$ are shown in Figs.(2-7).

It can be seen from the figures that, for solution A, the maximum of the magnetic field departs from the initial magnetic neutral interface with time. So, the dissipation area will get gradually wide. Following it, the current becomes smaller and smaller. The biggest rate of the diffuse of the magnetic energy due to the Joule heat takes place at the beginning. The solution B is interesting, its current is evidently a soliton. Hence, when the wave-packet of the current is located in the domain that we consider, the dissipation power keeps as a constant. But, once it passes through the domain, the dissipation power will descend with time.

4. Conclusions and Discussions

In conclusion, we have obtained two classes of full analytic time-dependent solutions for magnetic annihilation by directly solving the MHD equations.

The solutions which we get here have such a scaling property that the evolution of the relevant physical observables are described by the solutions of certain ordinary differential equations, with the variables being some functions of $`x`$ dilated by time $`t`$. Besides, in the case of asymmetric inflow, a soliton-like current can be formed. Finally, the solutions are used to reveal the relevant physical characteristics in the process of the magnetic annihilation.

However, the time-dependent solutions obtained here are the relative simple ones. Based on the method provided by Watson, Craig and Henton etc. , we expect to construct the time-dependent reconnection solutions. The work along this direction is under way.

Acknowledgment: One of the authors (Y. Liu) would like to thank Dr. J. Q. Li for helpful discussions and Prof. P. G. Watson for great valuable comments. This work is partly supported by Chinese Postdoctoral Foundation.