  A new path for the generation of a sub-ion scale cascade in collisionless
plasma turbulence, triggered by magnetic reconnection, is uncovered by means of
high-resolution two-dimensional hybrid-kinetic simulations employing two
complementary approaches, Lagrangian and Eulerian, and different driving
mechanisms. The simulation results provide clear numerical evidences that the
development of power-law energy spectra below the so-called ion break occurs as
soon as the first magnetic reconnection events take place, regardless of the
actual state of the turbulent cascade at MHD scales. In both simulations, the
reconnection-mediated small-scale energy spectrum of parallel magnetic
fluctuations exhibits a very stable spectral slope of ~-2.8, whether or not a
large-scale turbulent cascade has already fully developed. Once a
quasi-stationary turbulent state is achieved, the spectrum of the total
magnetic fluctuations settles towards a spectral index of -5/3 in the MHD range
and of ~-3 at sub-ion scales.
