CR propagation with numerical codes: perspectives for upcoming experiment data analysis

by Dr Carmelo Evoli (Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Hamburg)

Friday 16 Dec 2011, 14:00 → 16:00 Europe/Rome

131 (INFN edificio C)

The precise measurement of cosmic-ray (CR) ion flux at the top of atmosphere allows to constrain propagation models very effectively due to its direct dependency to the grammage seen by the particles during their transport in the Galaxy. The knowledge of the processes related to the propagation makes it possible to reconstruct the cosmic-ray source spectrum and thus to constrain the acceleration processes, but also to test the existence of exotic contributions such as the annihilation of dark-matter (DM) particles. In the last years, a fleet of ground-based, balloon-borne, and spacecraft instruments have measured CR species fluxes and \gamma-rays emissions produced by them during propagation with unprecedented accuracy. Exploiting the data collected by these experiments requires reliable and detailed calculations using numerical models. In my talk I will present DRAGON as a code to simulate galactic CR propagation, taking into account realistic distribution for CR sources, galactic gas and magnetic field distributions. In particular, I will show how we have used DRAGON code to perform a statistical analysis to test the compatibility of the most recent experimental results and to determine the allowed range for the diffusion model parameters. Our findings allowed us to obtain updated constraints on galactic DM contribution and to show the dependence of such constraints on the assumed astrophysical model for CR propagation. Finally, I will discuss recent (and future) DRAGON developments.