A modification and criticism of Petschek's mechanism

Petschek's mechanism is shown to be internally inconsistent when variations in magnetic field strength along the current sheet are included. The inconsistency can be removed for both incompressible and compressible flow provided the magnetic field lines in the narrow region between a pair of shock waves are pulled out into long loops rather than being only slightly bowed. If the mechanism is modified in this way, the rate of energy conversion is not significantly altered. However, there are several difficulties which remain and, unless they can be overcome, Petschek's mechanism must be considered unworkable.