Authors: Sujay Shankar (Boston University), Chuanfei Dong (Boston University), Hongyang Zhou (Boston University), Liang Wang (Boston University), Yi-Min Huang (University of Maryland), Yuxi Chen (University of Michigan), Xiaoyan Xie (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Chengcai Shen (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)

Magnetic reconnection plays an important role in a wide range of plasma environments, including solar and stellar atmospheres, planetary magnetospheres, and laboratory plasmas. In the weakly collisional solar corona, fast magnetic reconnection is critical to the formation and evolution of solar flares, explosive  electromagnetic energy releases that can significantly impact Earth. Here, we present a 2.5D numerical study of fast magnetic reconnection in a solar flare current sheet, examining the underlying physical mechanisms that drive energy dissipation and particle acceleration. Using resistive and Hall magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models, as well as the MHD with embedded particle-in-cell (MHD-EPIC) model, we simulate the dynamics of magnetic reconnection, focusing on the reconnection rate and the associated plasmoid formation and evolution. Our work provides a comprehensive multi-model comparison and aims  to establish a fundamental understanding of how different physical models behave across different reconnection regimes.