Five-moment three-fluid modeling of magnetic reconnection in partially ionized plasmas

Magnetic reconnection in partially ionized plasmas plays a crucial role in various astrophysical and laboratory environments. In this study, we employ a five-moment three-fluid model to simulate magnetic reconnection in such plasmas, treating electrons, ions, and neutrals as separate species on an equal footing. Our results are compared with previous findings from particle-in-cell (PIC) and multifluid magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations with matching parameters. The five-moment fluid model yields outcomes closely aligned with PIC simulations, including reconnection rates and current sheet dynamics, while diverging from prior multifluid MHD results. At the reconnection site, the inertial term contributes significantly to the reconnection electric field, while the collisional term plays a modest but not significant role, consistent with corresponding results from PIC simulations. These findings highlight the capability of the five-moment fluid description in capturing key reconnection physics in partially ionized environments, offering a more computationally efficient and analytically tractable alternative to fully kinetic approaches.