Reconnection in the interstellar medium

We discuss the role of ambipolar diffusion for simple reconnection in a partially ionized gas, following the reconnection geometry of Parker and Sweet. When the recombination time is short, the mobility and reconnection of the magnetic field is substantially enhanced as matter escapes from the reconnection region via ambipolar diffusion. Our analysis shows that in the interstellar medium it is the recombination rate that usually limits the rate …