Relativistic Two-fluid Simulations of Guide Field Magnetic Reconnection

The nonlinear evolution of relativistic magnetic reconnection in sheared magnetic configuration (with a guide field) is investigated by using two-dimensional relativistic two-fluid simulations. Relativistic guide field reconnection features the charge separation and the guide field compression in and around the outflow channel. As the guide field increases, the composition of the outgoing energy changes from enthalpy-dominated to Poynting-dominated. The inertial effects of the two-fluid model play an important role to sustain magnetic reconnection. Implications for the single fluid magnetohydrodynamic approach and the physics models of relativistic reconnection are briefly addressed.