Abstract
Onset of reconnection in the tail requires the current sheet thickness
to be of the order of the ion thermal gyroradius or smaller. However,
existing isotropic plasma models cannot explain the formation of such
thin sheets at distances where the X-lines are typically observed. Here
we reproduce such thin and long sheets in particle-in-cell simulations
using a new model of their equilibria with weakly anisotropic ion
species assuming quasi-adiabatic ion dynamics, which substantially
modifies the current density. It is found that anisotropy/agyrotropy
contributions to the force balance in such equilibria are comparable to
the pressure gradient in spite of weak ion anisotropy. New equilibria
whose current distributions are substantially overstretched compared to
the magnetic field lines are found to be stable in spite of the fact
that they are substantially longer than isotropic sheets with similar
thickness.