Two problems involving perfect conductivity in a collisionless plasma

Two problems connected with the mechanisms of imperfect conductivity in a tenuous plasma are investigated. The first problem deals with magnetic merging, the process by which magnetic field lines in a plasma change their topology. In this work, the Sonnerup merging model, in which merging takes place in the boundary between two regions of oppositely directed magnetic field, is extended to allow plasma flow parallel to the boundary. The second problem concerns current interruption in a collisionless plasma, the process by which currents in a plasma above a critical magnitude is spontaneously reduced by a mechanism of anomalous resistivity