A MODEL FOR THE NON-UNIVERSAL POWER LAW OF THE SOLAR WIND SUB-ION-SCALE MAGNETIC SPECTRUM

A phenomenological turbulence model for kinetic Alfven waves in a magnetized collisionless plasma that is able to reproduce the non-universal power-law spectra observed at the sub-ion scales in the solar wind and the terrestrial magnetosphere is presented. The process of temperature homogenization along distorted magnetic field lines, induced by Landau damping, affects the turbulence transfer time and results in a steepening of the sub-ion power-law spectrum of critically balanced turbulence, whose exponent is sensitive to the ratio between the Alfven wave period and the nonlinear timescale. Transition from large-scale weak turbulence to smaller scale strong turbulence is captured and nonlocal interactions, relevant in the case of steep spectra, are accounted for.