9310157 Bhattacharjee This research continues theoretical studies on the effect of resistivity on current sheets in the solar corona. The work completed during the last two years has led to significant new insights on where and how rapidly in time current sheets tend to form in a long, thin coronal tube in the presence of small but finite resistivity. The continuing effort will be based on 3D coronal equilibria with high symmetry and a generalized Ohm's law that includes not only resistivity but also other collisionless mechanisms of relevance to the corona. The 3D equilibria will be investigated for separatrix formation, analytically and numerically, since singularities tend to form at separatrices. The inclusion of these collisionless mechanisms will introduce qualitatively new dynamical effects and bring theory closer to observations.***
