Properties of two- and three-dimensional magnetic reconnection

Magnetic reconnection is believed to be one of the fundamental plasma processes in current carrying space plasma systems. Originally magnetic reconnection has been introduced and discussed in two spatial dimensions. However, the real world is three-dimensional and while two-dimensional approximations are often helpful to aid our understanding of physical processes they may have severe shortcomings depending on the system under investigation. This work attempts a comprehensive comparison and summary of properties of two-and three-dimensional magnetic reconnection. It is demonstrated that a single three-dimensional reconnection site does in general not remain localized and filaments into a multitude of reconnection patches. Several implications of this process are discussed.