14th Cosmic-Ray International Studies and Multi-messenger Astroparticle Conference

12 Jul 2026, 17:00 → 17 Jul 2026, 17:30 Europe/Rome

Itaca Hall (Sorrento)

14^th CRIS-MAC 2026
Cosmic-Ray International Studies and Multi-messenger Astroparticle Conference

The 14^th CRIS-MAC Conference will be held in Sorrento from 13 to 17 July 2026. 

The Conference is jointly organized by the Department of Physics “E. Pancini” of the University of Napoli Federico II  and the Department of Physics and Astronomy “E. Majorana” of the University of Catania, and by the Department of Physics and Chemistry “E. Segrè” of the University of Palermo and by the Napoli and Catania Divisions of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN).

As in previous CRIS editions, the conference will focus on fundamental topics in astroparticle physics with special emphasis on the multi-messenger astronomy studies. For this reason the conference acronym has been changed to CRIS-MAC (Cosmic-Ray International Studies and Multi-messenger Astroparticle Conference) while retaining the old CRIS series numbering.
The main focus of the CRIS-MAC conference is the multi messenger aspects of astroparticle physics which naturally includes fields such as cosmic-ray physics, gamma-ray and multi-wavelength astronomy, astrophysical neutrinos and gravitational waves.

The program includes invited lectures, contributed talks, posters and flash talks.

As in the past, the CRIS-MAC 2026  is addressed to scientists in the field as well as to PhD and graduate students. We will encourage lively and informal discussions among participants.

 

Important dates and deadlines : 

• registration opening : January 28th
• abstract submission : March 10th
• notification of acceptance : March 20th
• proceedings submission (preliminary) : June 15th
• proceedings submission (final) : July 30th

 

CRISMAC-2026 - FirstCircular.pdf

CRISMAC-2026-SecondCircular.pdf

crismac_poster_2026.pdf

Sponsor_CRIS-MAC2026.pdf

Sunday 12 July

Registration

Monday 13 July

Registration

Opening

Convener: Fausto Guarino (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)

Cosmic Rays Direct

10:50 coffee break

Review

1 Hadronic Interactions and Cosmic-Ray Physics: A Comprehensive Review of the Muon Puzzle

High-energy cosmic rays interacting in the Earth’s atmosphere produce extensive air showers that are observed by large ground-based detector arrays. The properties of the primary cosmic ray must be inferred indirectly from the secondary particles measured at the surface, a process that relies strongly on theoretical models of hadronic interactions during shower development. Over the past two decades, various experiments have measured the muon content of extensive air showers across several orders of magnitude in cosmic-ray energy. These measurements reveal significant discrepancies between observed muon densities and predictions from simulations based on QCD-inspired phenomenological models. Despite substantial efforts to improve the modeling of muon production - incorporating constraints from both cosmic-ray and accelerator data - these differences persist and are commonly known as the muon puzzle.

In this contribution, I will present a comprehensive review of muon measurements in extensive air showers from multiple cosmic-ray experiments and discuss their consistency with predictions from a range of phenomenological models. I will summarize key insights gained over the past decade and highlight recent advances in both the measurement and modeling of muon production in air showers, with particular emphasis on their implications for cosmic-ray composition studies and multi-messenger astrophysics.

Speaker: Dennis Soldin (University of Utah)

Cosmic Rays Indirect

12:50 lunch break

Cosmic Rays Indirect

16:00 coffee break

Multi-messenger Astroparticle

Tuesday 14 July

Multi-messenger Astroparticle

10:50 coffee break

Review

2 Radio Detectors and their Applications in Astroparticle Physics

Radio detection of air showers has become a standard technique for indirect measurement of the highest energy Galactic and extragalactic cosmic rays. Geomagnetic and Askaryan radio emission are detectable around the clock, and a number of radio arrays have achieved measurement accuracies for the arrival direction, energy and position of the shower maximum competitive with traditional optical detection techniques. Radio antennas have thus become a valuable enhancement to particle-detector arrays, which provide the trigger. In particular, in the combination with muon detectors, radio-particle hybrid measurements increase the sensitivity for the mass of the primary particle and provide unique capabilities to test hadronic interaction models. While already demonstrated for cosmic-ray air showers, radio detection is also of interest for other cosmic messengers above approximately 10 PeV, especially, for photons and neutrinos. As the radio emission originates primarily from the electromagnetic shower component, a combination of radio antennas and muon detectors can be used to separate light and heavy cosmic rays on an event-by-event bases, and to search for gamma rays by selecting muon-poor showers. Self-triggered balloon-borne radio detectors, in-ice radio arrays, and radio detectors on mountains search for neutrino-induced particle cascades and are about to become the most sensitivity experiments for ultra-high-energy neutrinos.

Speaker: Prof. Frank Schröder (Bartol Research Institute, Departement of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware)

Neutrinos

12:50 lunch break

Cosmic Rays Indirect

Flash Talks (poster session)

16:00 coffee break

Poster Session 1

Wednesday 15 July

Gamma Rays

10:50 coffee break

Review

Outreach

12:50 lunch break

Instruments and Data Handling

Cosmic Rays Direct

16:30 coffee break

Thursday 16 July

Neutrinos

Flash Talks (poster session)

10:50 coffee break

Poster Session 2

Review

3 Neutrino Astronomy: Current Status and Future Prospects

The detection of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory heralded the birth of neutrino astronomy, opening a new window onto the non-thermal Universe. Over the last years, IceCube has identified the first steady neutrino source emission, the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068, as well as produced the first image of our own Milky Way captured with neutrinos. However, the origin of most astrophysical neutrinos remains unknown. Meanwhile, the KM3NeT collaboration continues the deployment of their detector in the Mediterranean Sea, and with a fraction of the final instrumentation they observed the most energetic neutrino ever detected, suggesting a possible cosmogenic origin. In this talk I will review the current observational landscape of high-energy neutrino detectors and the prospects of next-generation endeavors such as the Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland, P-ONE in the Pacific, and other planned neutrino telescopes.

Speaker: Juan Antonio Aguilar Sánchez (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

Neutrinos

13:10 lunch break

14:10 Excursion

20:00 Social Dinner

Friday 17 July

Outreach

10:50 coffee break

Review

4 UHE gamma-ray sources: New insights into the most extreme particle accelerators in our Galaxy

The origin of very-high-energy Galactic cosmic-rays is currently hotly debated. Their most powerful sources in our Galaxy, also called “PeVatrons”, are expected to accelerate particles up to rigidities of at least a few PV, and possibly beyond. Such sources should also produce ultra-high-energy (UHE) gamma-rays. Recent observations by the LHAASO experiment with > 100 TeV gamma-rays show that several classes of sources may accelerate protons or electrons up to PeV energies, while casting doubts on the standard paradigm that most supernova remnants should be PeVatrons during their first few centuries.
In this talk, we will review the current status and the latest developments in the search for PeVatrons thanks to observations of UHE gamma-ray sources. In particular, LHAASO data demonstrates that some stellar clusters, microquasars and pulsar wind nebulae can accelerate particles beyond PeV energies. We will discuss possible acceleration mechanisms for these particles. Finally, we will also place further constraints on the nature of PeVatrons through a novel multi-messenger study, using the diffuse Galactic very-high-energy gamma-ray and neutrino emissions measured respectively by LHAASO and IceCube.

Speaker: Gwenael Giacinti (APC Paris)

Gamma Rays

13:10 lunch break

Instruments and Data Handling

Closing Remarks