Data analysis and theoretical arguments support magnetic reconnection in a chromospheric current sheet as the mechanism of the observed photospheric magnetic ux cancellation on the Sun. Flux pile-up reconnection in a Sweet{Parker current sheet can explain the observed properties of canceling mag- netic features, including the speeds of canceling magnetic fragments, the magnetic uxes in the fragments, and the ux cancellation rates, inferred from the data. It is discussed how more realistic chromospheric reconnection models can be developed by relaxing the assumptions of a negligible current sheet curvature and a constant height of the reconnection site above the photosphere.

Solar observations support that magnetic reconnect ion ubiquitously occurs in the chromosphere as well as in the corona. It is now widely accepted that coronal magnetic reconnect ion is fast reconnect ion of the Petschek type, and is the main driver of solar flares. On the other hand, it has been thought that the traditional Sweet-Parker model may describe chromospheric reconnect ion without difficulty, since the electric conductivity in the chromoshphere is much lower than that in the corona. However, recent observations of cancelling magnetic features have suggested that chromospheric reconnect ion might proceed at a faster rate than the Sweet-Parker model predicts. We have applied the Sweet-Parker model and Petschek model to a well-observed cancelling magnetic feature. As a result, we found that the inflow speed of the Sweet-Parker reconnect ion is too small to explain the observed converging speed of the feature. On the other hand, the inflow speeds and outflow speeds of the Petschek reconnect ion are well compatible with observations. Moreover, we found that the Sweet-Parker type current sheet is subject to the ion-acoustic instability in the chromosphere, implying the Petschek mechanism may operate there. Our results strongly suggest that chromospheric reconnect ion is of the Petschek type.