Hadronic Interactions Of Cosmic Rays Research Articles

Small-scale Magnetic Fields Are Critical to Shaping Solar Gamma-Ray Emission

The Sun is a bright gamma-ray source due to hadronic cosmic-ray interactions with solar gas. While it is known that incoming cosmic rays must generally first be reflected by solar magnetic fields to produce outgoing gamma rays, theoretical models have yet to reproduce the observed spectra. We introduce a simplified model of the solar magnetic fields that captures the main elements relevant to gamma-ray production. These are a flux tube, representing the network elements, and a flux sheet, representing the intergranular sheets. Both the tube and sheet have a horizontal size of order 100 km and serve as sites where cosmic rays are reflected and gamma rays are produced. While our simplified double-structure model does not capture all the complexities of the solar-surface magnetic fields, such as Alfvén turbulence from wave interactions or magnetic fluctuations from convection motions, it improves on previous models by reasonably producing both the hard spectrum seen by Fermi Large Area Telescope at 1–200 GeV and the considerably softer spectrum seen by the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC) at near 103 GeV. We show that lower-energy (≲10 GeV) gamma rays are primarily produced in the network elements and higher-energy (≳few × 10 GeV) gamma rays in the intergranular sheets. Notably, the spectrum softening observed by HAWC results from the limited effectiveness of capturing and reflecting ∼104 GeV cosmic rays by the finite-sized intergranular sheets. Our study is important for understanding cosmic-ray transport in the solar atmosphere and will lead to insights into small-scale magnetic fields at the photosphere.

Measurement of Ultra-High-Energy Diffuse Gamma-Ray Emission of the Galactic Plane from 10TeV to 1PeV with LHAASO-KM2A.

The diffuse Galactic γ-ray emission, mainly produced via interactions between cosmic rays and the interstellar medium and/or radiation field, is a very important probe of the distribution, propagation, and interaction of cosmic rays in the MilkyWay. In this Letter, we report the measurements of diffuse γ rays from the Galactic plane between 10TeV and 1PeV energies, with the square kilometer array of the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO). Diffuse emissions from the inner (15°<l<125°, |b|<5°) and outer (125°<l<235°, |b|<5°) Galactic plane are detected with 29.1σ and 12.7σ significance, respectively. The outer Galactic plane diffuse emission is detected for the first time in the very- to ultra-high-energy domain (E>10 TeV). The energy spectrum in the inner Galaxy regions can be described by a power-law function with an index of -2.99±0.04, which is different from the curved spectrum as expected from hadronic interactions between locally measured cosmic rays and the line-of-sight integrated gas content. Furthermore, the measured flux is higher by a factor of ∼3 than the prediction. A similar spectrum with an index of -2.99±0.07 is found in the outer Galaxy region, and the absolute flux for 10≲E≲60 TeV is again higher than the prediction for hadronic cosmic ray interactions. The latitude distributions of the diffuse emission are consistent with the gas distribution, while the longitude distributions show clear deviation from the gas distribution. The LHAASO measurements imply that either additional emission sources exist or cosmic ray intensities have spatial variations.

Probing LHAASO galactic PeVatrons through gamma-ray and neutrino correspondence

ABSTRACT Recently, Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) has detected several Galactic point sources of ultra high energy (UHE; Eγ &amp;gt; 100 TeV) gamma-rays. These gamma-rays are possibly created in leptonic or hadronic interactions of cosmic rays (CRs) of PeV energies. In the hadronic channel (p − p interaction), the gamma-rays are accompanied by neutrinos. The detection of neutrinos is therefore crucial in understanding CR acceleration in such objects. To estimate the neutrino flux, we adopt the two LHAASO sources (J2226+6057, J1908+0621) found to be spatially associated with the supernova remnants (SNR G106.3+2.7, SNR G40.5–0.5). For these two sources, the detected TeV-PeV gamma-ray spectra are found to be unusually hard (with spectral index ∼1.8). We develop a model of gamma-ray and neutrino emission based on the above two prototypes. The neutrino fluxes from these two sources are found to be below the IceCube sensitivity, but are detectable in upcoming IceCube-Gen2 and KM3NeT experiments. We further estimate the neutrino fluxes from similar other 10 LHAASO PeVatron sources and most of them are found to be detectable in IceCube-Gen2 and KM3NeT. Finally, we explore our model parameters, in particular the spectral power-law index and estimate the future potential of the neutrino detectors to probe CR acceleration in such Galactic sources.

Search for Spatial Correlations of Neutrinos with Ultra-high-energy Cosmic Rays

For several decades, the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) has been an unsolved question of high-energy astrophysics. One approach for solving this puzzle is to correlate UHECRs with high-energy neutrinos, since neutrinos are a direct probe of hadronic interactions of cosmic rays and are not deflected by magnetic fields. In this paper, we present three different approaches for correlating the arrival directions of neutrinos with the arrival directions of UHECRs. The neutrino data are provided by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and ANTARES, while the UHECR data with energies above ∼50 EeV are provided by the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array. All experiments provide increased statistics and improved reconstructions with respect to our previous results reported in 2015. The first analysis uses a high-statistics neutrino sample optimized for point-source searches to search for excesses of neutrino clustering in the vicinity of UHECR directions. The second analysis searches for an excess of UHECRs in the direction of the highest-energy neutrinos. The third analysis searches for an excess of pairs of UHECRs and highest-energy neutrinos on different angular scales. None of the analyses have found a significant excess, and previously reported overfluctuations are reduced in significance. Based on these results, we further constrain the neutrino flux spatially correlated with UHECRs.

Performance of an emulsion telescope for gamma-ray observations in the GRAINE2018 balloon-borne experiment

Abstract The Gamma-Ray Astro-Imager with Nuclear Emulsion (GRAINE) project is aimed at the precise observation of astronomical gamma-ray sources in the energy range of 10 MeV–100 GeV using a balloon-borne telescope utilizing a nuclear emulsion, which can help realize precise imaging with high angular resolution (1.0○ at 100 MeV), polarization sensitivity, and large aperture area (10 m2). In 2018, the third balloon experiment was carried out as a demonstration of the detection of the brightest known astronomical gamma-ray source, the Vela pulsar, with an aperture area of 0.38 m2. In these data, some gamma rays were produced by the π0 → 2γ decay, which was caused by the hadronic interactions of cosmic rays in the detector. These could be used to calibrate the reconstructed angle, energy, and so on. In this study, we establish a method of searching for hadronic interactions and concomitant gamma rays with high statistics and purity. Our analysis indicates that the performance of our detector for gamma rays is as expected in wide incidence angle and energy ranges. We plan to commence scientific observations using the proposed system with the verified high angular resolution and largest aperture area in 2022 or later.

Effect of the uncertainty in the hadronic interaction models on the estimation of the sensitivity of the Cherenkov telescope array

Imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) are ground-based indirect detectors for cosmic gamma rays with energies above tens of GeV. The major backgrounds for gamma-ray observations in IACTs are cosmic-ray charged particles. The capability to reject these backgrounds is the most important factor determining the gamma-ray sensitivity of IACT systems. Monte Carlo simulations are used to estimate the residual background rates and sensitivity of the systems during the design and construction phase. Uncertainties in the modeling of high-energy hadronic interactions of cosmic rays with nuclei in the air propagate into the estimates of residual background rates and subsequently into the estimated instrument sensitivity. We investigate the influence of the difference in the current hadronic interaction models on the estimated gamma-ray sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array using four interaction models (QGSJET-II-03, QGSJET-II-04, EPOS-LHC, and SIBYLL2.3c) implemented in the air shower simulation tool CORSIKA. Variations in background rates of up to a factor 2 with respect to QGSJET-II-03 are observed between the models, mainly due to differences in the π 0 production spectrum. These lead to ∼30% differences in the estimated gamma-ray sensitivity in the 1–30 TeV region, assuming a 50 h observation of a gamma-ray point-like source. The presented results also show that IACTs have a significant capability in the verification of hadronic interaction models.

Can the TeV gamma-ray sky probe the galactic cosmic ray distribution?

We evaluate the diffuse gamma-ray flux at TeV energies produced by hadronic interactions of cosmic rays with the gas contained in the galactic disk. We consider different assumptions for the cosmic ray distribution, including the recently emerged possibility of a harder cosmic ray spectrum in the inner Galaxy. We show that observational data provided by Argo-YBJ, HESS, HAWC and Milagro, can already discriminate among different hyphoteses. The constraints can be strengthened if the contribution of sources not resolved by HESS is taken into account.

Probing galactic cosmic ray distribution with TeV gamma-ray sky

The distribution of cosmic rays in the Galaxy is still uncertain and this affects the expectations for the diffuse gamma-ray emission produced by hadronic interactions of cosmic rays with the interstellar gas. We evaluate the diffuse gamma-ray flux at TeV energies by considering different assumptions for the cosmic ray distribution, including the recently emerged possibility of a decreasing cosmic ray spectral index in the inner Galaxy. The diffuse emission from the galactic central region (i.e. in the longitude range | l | ≤ 60̂) changes in the different scenarios by a relatively large factor and can be probed by TeV scale gamma-ray observations. By comparing the total flux produced by diffuse emission and point-like and extended sources resolved by HESS with the gamma-ray flux observed by Argo-YBJ, HESS, HAWC and Milagro, we show that experimental data can already discriminate among different hyphoteses for cosmic ray distribution. The constraints can be strengthened if the contribution of sources not resolved by HESS is taken into account.

Evidence against Star-forming Galaxies as the Dominant Source of Icecube Neutrinos

Abstract The cumulative emission resulting from hadronic cosmic-ray interactions in star-forming galaxies (SFGs) has been proposed as the dominant contribution to the astrophysical neutrino flux at TeV to PeV energies reported by IceCube. The same particle interactions also inevitably create γ-ray emission that could be detectable as a component of the extragalactic γ-ray background (EGB), which is now measured with the Fermi-LAT in the energy range from 0.1 to 820 GeV. New studies of the blazar flux distribution at γ-ray energies above 50 GeV place an upper bound on the residual non-blazar component of the EGB. We show that these results are in strong tension with models that consider SFGs as the dominant source of the diffuse neutrino backgrounds. A characteristic spectral index for parent cosmic rays in starburst galaxies of ΓSB ≃ 2.3 for dN / dE ∝ E − Γ SB is consistent with the observed scaling relation between γ-ray and IR luminosity for SFGs, the bounds from the non-blazar EGB, and the observed γ-ray spectra of individual starbursts, but underpredicts the IceCube data by approximately an order of magnitude.

The inner 300 parsecs of the Milky Way seen by H.E.S.S.: a Pevatron in the Galactic Centre

The Galactic Centre region has been observed by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) array of ground-based Cherenkov telescopes since 2004 leading to the detection of the very-high-energy γ-ray source HESS J1745-290 spatially coincident with the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. Diffuse TeV gamma-ray emission has been detected along the Galactic plane, most likely due to hadronic cosmic-ray interactions with the dense gas of the Central Molecular Zone. The rich 2004-2013 dataset permits detailed spectral and morphological studies of the diffuse emission in the inner 300 pc of the Galactic Centre region. The new results provide an important statement regarding the location and origin of the accelerator of PeV protons. The H.E.S.S. observations of the Pevatron are discussed in the context of the origin of Galactic cosmic rays.

SEARCH FOR EXTENDED GAMMA-RAY EMISSION FROM THE VIRGO GALAXY CLUSTER WITH FERMI-LAT

ABSTRACT Galaxy clusters are one of the prime sites to search for dark matter (DM) annihilation signals. Depending on the substructure of the DM halo of a galaxy cluster and the cross sections for DM annihilation channels, these signals might be detectable by the latest generation of γ-ray telescopes. Here we use three years of Fermi-Large Area Telescope data, which are the most suitable for searching for very extended emission in the vicinity of the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. Our analysis reveals statistically significant extended emission which can be well characterized by a uniformly emitting disk profile with a radius of 3° that moreover is offset from the cluster center. We demonstrate that the significance of this extended emission strongly depends on the adopted interstellar emission model (IEM) and is most likely an artifact of our incomplete description of the IEM in this region. We also search for and find new point source candidates in the region. We then derive conservative upper limits on the velocity-averaged DM pair annihilation cross section from Virgo. We take into account the potential γ-ray flux enhancement due to DM sub-halos and its complex morphology as a merging cluster. For DM annihilating into b b &macr; , ?> assuming a conservative sub-halo model setup, we find limits that are between 1 and 1.5 orders of magnitude above the expectation from the thermal cross section for m DM ≲ 100 GeV. In a more optimistic scenario, we exclude &lang; &sgr; v &rang; &sim; 3 &times; 10 &minus; 26 cm 3 s &minus; 1 ?> for m DM ≲ 40 GeV for the same channel. Finally, we derive upper limits on the γ-ray-flux produced by hadronic cosmic-ray interactions in the inter cluster medium. We find that the volume-averaged cosmic-ray-to-thermal pressure ratio is less than ∼6%.

NUCLEAR ENHANCEMENT OF THE PHOTON YIELD IN COSMIC RAY INTERACTIONS.

The concept of the nuclear enhancement factor has been used since the beginning of γ-ray astronomy. It provides a simple and convenient way to account for the contribution of nuclei (A > 1) in cosmic rays (CRs) and in the interstellar medium (ISM) to the diffuse γ-ray emission. An accurate treatment of the dominant emission process, such as hadronic interactions of CRs with the ISM, enables one to study CR acceleration processes and CR propagation in the ISM, and provides a reliable background model for searches of new phenomena. The Fermi Large Area Telescope launched in 2008 provides excellent quality data in a wide energy range 30 MeV-1 TeV where the diffuse emission accounts for the majority of photons. Exploiting its data to the fullest requires a new study of the processes of γ-ray production in hadronic interactions. In this paper we point out that several commonly used studies of the nuclear enhancement factor fail to account for the spectrally averaged energy loss fraction which ensures that the energy fraction transferred to photons is averaged properly with the spectra of CR species. We present a new calculation of the spectrally averaged energy loss fraction and the nuclear enhancement factor using the QGSJET-II-04 and EPOS-LHC interaction models.

DEEP BROADBAND OBSERVATIONS OF THE DISTANT GAMMA-RAY BLAZAR PKS 1424+240

We present deep VERITAS observations of the blazar PKS 1424+240, along with contemporaneous Fermi Large Area Telescope, Swift X-ray Telescope and Swift UV Optical Telescope data between 2009 February 19 and 2013 June 8. This blazar resides at a redshift of $z\ge0.6035$, displaying a significantly attenuated gamma-ray flux above 100 GeV due to photon absorption via pair-production with the extragalactic background light. We present more than 100 hours of VERITAS observations from three years, a multiwavelength light curve and the contemporaneous spectral energy distributions. The source shows a higher flux of (2.1$\pm0.3$)$\times10^{-7}$ ph m$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$ above 120 GeV in 2009 and 2011 as compared to the flux measured in 2013, corresponding to (1.02$\pm0.08$)$\times10^{-7}$ ph m$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$ above 120 GeV. The measured differential very high energy (VHE; $E\ge100$ GeV) spectral indices are $\Gamma=$3.8$\pm$0.3, 4.3$\pm$0.6 and 4.5$\pm$0.2 in 2009, 2011 and 2013, respectively. No significant spectral change across the observation epochs is detected. We find no evidence for variability at gamma-ray opacities of greater than $\tau=2$, where it is postulated that any variability would be small and occur on longer than year timescales if hadronic cosmic-ray interactions with extragalactic photon fields provide a secondary VHE photon flux. The data cannot rule out such variability due to low statistics.

Simulating the γ-ray emission from galaxy clusters: a universal cosmic ray spectrum and spatial distribution

Entering a new era of high-energy gamma-ray experiments, there is an exciting quest for the first detection of gamma-ray emission from clusters of galaxies. To complement these observational efforts, we use high-resolution simulations of a broad sample of galaxy clusters, and follow self-consistent cosmic ray (CR) physics using an improved spectral description. We study CR proton spectra as well as the different contributions of the pion decay and inverse Compton emission to the total flux and present spectral index maps. We find a universal spectrum of the CR component in clusters with surprisingly little scatter across our cluster sample. The spatial CR distribution also shows approximate universality; it depends however on the cluster mass. This enables us to derive a semi-analytic model for both, the distribution of CRs as well as the pion-decay gamma-ray emission that results from hadronic CR interactions with ambient gas protons. In addition, we provide an analytic framework for the inverse Compton emission that is produced by shock-accelerated CR electrons and valid in the full gamma-ray energy range. Combining the complete sample of the brightest X-ray clusters observed by ROSAT with our gamma-ray scaling relations, we identify the brightest clusters for the gamma-ray space telescope Fermi and current imaging air Cherenkov telescopes (MAGIC, HESS, VERITAS). We reproduce the result in Pfrommer (2008), but provide somewhat more conservative predictions for the fluxes in the energy regimes of Fermi and imaging air Cherenkov telescopes when accounting for the bias of `artificial galaxies' in cosmological simulations. We find that it will be challenging to detect cluster gamma-ray emission with Fermi after the second year but this mission has the potential of constraining interesting values of the shock acceleration efficiency after several years of surveying.

Observation of muon intensity variations by season with the MINOS far detector

The temperature of the upper atmosphere affects the height of primary cosmic ray interactions and the production of high-energy cosmic ray muons which can be detected deep underground. The MINOS far detector at Soudan MN, USA, has collected over 67 million cosmic ray induced muons. The underground muon rate measured over a period of five years exhibits a 4% peak-to-peak seasonal variation which is highly correlated with the temperature in the upper atmosphere. The coefficient, $\alpha_T$, relating changes in the muon rate to changes in atmospheric temperature was found to be: $\alpha_T = 0.874 \pm 0.009$ (stat.) $\pm 0.010$ (syst.). Pions and kaons in the primary hadronic interactions of cosmic rays in the atmosphere contribute differently to $\alpha_T$ due to the different masses and lifetimes. This allows the measured value of $\alpha_T$ to be interpreted as a measurement of the K/$\pi$ ratio for $E_{p}\gtrsim$\unit[7]{TeV} of $0.13 \pm 0.08$, consistent with the expectation from collider experiments.

Production of neutrinos and secondary electrons in cosmic sources

We study the individual contribution to secondary lepton production in hadronic interactions of cosmic rays (CRs) including resonances and heavier secondaries. For this purpose we use the same methodology discussed earlier [C.-Y. Huang, S.-E. Park, M. Pohl, C.D. Daniels, Astropart. Phys. 27 (2007) 429], namely the Monte-Carlo particle collision code DPMJET3.04 to determine the multiplicity spectra of various secondary particles with leptons as the final decay states, that result from inelastic collisions of cosmic-ray protons and Helium nuclei with the interstellar medium of standard composition. By combining the simulation results with parametric models for secondary particle (with resonances included) for incident cosmic-ray energies below a few GeV, where DPMJET appears unreliable, we thus derive production matrices for all stable secondary particles in cosmic-ray interactions with energies up to about 10 PeV. We apply the production matrices to calculate the radio synchrotron radiation of secondary electrons in a young shell-type SNR, RX J1713.7-3946, which is a measure of the age, the spectral index of hadronic cosmic rays, and most importantly the magnetic field strength. We find that the multi-mG fields recently invoked to explain the X-ray flux variations are unlikely to extend over a large fraction of the radio-emitting region, otherwise the spectrum of hadronic cosmic rays in the energy window 0.1–100 GeV must be unusually hard. We also use the production matrices to calculate the muon event rate in an IceCube-like detector that are induced by muon neutrinos from high-energy γ-ray sources such as RX J1713.7-3946, Vela Jr. and MGRO J2019+37. At muon energies of a few TeV, or in other word, about 10 TeV neutrino energy, an accumulation of data over about 5–10 years would allow testing the hadronic origin of TeV γ-rays.

Simulating cosmic rays in clusters of galaxies – III. Non-thermal scaling relations and comparison to observations

Complementary views of galaxy clusters in the radio synchrotron, hard X-ray inverse Compton and high-energy γ-ray regimes are critical in calibrating them as high-precision cosmological probes. We present predictions for scaling relations between cluster mass and these non-thermal observables. To this end, we use high-resolution simulations of a sample of galaxy clusters spanning a mass range of almost two orders of magnitudes, and follow self-consistent cosmic ray physics on top of the radiative hydrodynamics. We model relativistic electrons that are accelerated at cosmological structure formation shocks and those that are produced in hadronic interactions of cosmic rays with ambient gas protons. Calibrating the magnetic fields of our model with Faraday rotation measurements, the synchrotron emission of our relativistic electron populations matches the radio synchrotron luminosities and morphologies of observed giant radio haloes and minihaloes surprisingly well. Using the complete sample of the brightest X-ray clusters observed by ROSAT in combination with our γ-ray scaling relation, we predict GLAST to detect about ten clusters allowing for Eddington bias due to the scatter in the scaling relation. The expected brightest γ-ray clusters are Ophiuchus, Fornax, Coma, A3627, Perseus and Centaurus. The high-energy γ-ray emission above 100 MeV is dominated by pion decays resulting from hadronic cosmic ray interactions. We provide an absolute lower flux limit for the γ-ray emission of Coma in the hadronic model which can be made tighter for magnetic field values derived from rotation measurements to match the GLAST sensitivity, providing thus a unique test for the possible hadronic origin of radio haloes. Our predicted hard X-ray emission, due to inverse Compton emission of shock accelerated and hadronically produced relativistic electrons, falls short of the detections in Coma and Perseus by a factor of 50. This casts doubts on inverse Compton interpretation and reinforces the known discrepancy of magnetic field estimates from Faraday rotation measurements and those obtained by combining synchrotron and inverse Compton emission.

Simulating cosmic rays in clusters of galaxies – II. A unified scheme for radio haloes and relics with predictions of the γ-ray emission

The thermal plasma of galaxy clusters lost most of its information on how structure formation proceeded as a result of dissipative processes. In contrast, non-equilibrium distributions of cosmic rays (CRs) preserve the information about their injection and transport processes and provide thus a unique window of current and past structure formation processes. This information can be unveiled by observations of non-thermal radiative processes, including radio synchrotron, hard X-ray and γ-ray emission. To explore this, we use high-resolution simulations of a sample of galaxy clusters spanning a mass range of about two orders of magnitudes, and follow self-consistent CR physics on top of the radiative hydrodynamics. We model relativistic electrons that are accelerated at cosmological structure formation shocks and those that are produced in hadronic interactions of CRs with ambient gas protons. We find that the CR proton pressure traces the time integrated non-equilibrium activities of clusters and is modulated by the recent dynamical activities. In contrast, the pressure of primary shock-accelerated CR electrons resembles current accretion and merging shock waves that break at the shallow cluster potential in the virial regions. The resulting synchrotron emission is predicted to be polarized and has an inhomogeneous and aspherical spatial distribution which matches the properties of observed radio relics. We propose a unified scheme for the generation of giant radio haloes as well as radio minihaloes that naturally arises from our simulated synchrotron surface brightness maps and emission profiles. Giant radio haloes are dominated in the centre by secondary synchrotron emission with a transition to the radio synchrotron radiation emitted from primary, shock-accelerated electrons in the cluster periphery. This model is able to explain the regular structure of radio haloes by the dominant contribution of hadronically produced electrons. At the same time, it is able to account for the observed correlation of mergers with radio haloes, the larger peripheral variation of the spectral index, and the large scatter in the scaling relation between cluster mass and synchrotron emission. Future low-frequency radio telescopes (LOFAR, GMRT, MWA, LWA) are expected to probe the accretion shock regions of clusters and the warm–hot intergalactic medium, depending on the adopted model for the magnetic fields. The hadronic origin of radio haloes can be scrutinized by the detection of pion-decay-induced γ-rays following hadronic CR interactions. The high-energy γ-ray emission depends only weakly on whether radiative or non-radiative gas physics is simulated due to the self-regulated nature of the CR cooling processes. Our models predict a γ-ray emission level that should be observable with the GLAST satellite.

Charmed hadron production in pp collision

We investigated the production of charmed hadrons ( D +, D −, D 0, D ¯ 0 , Λ c + , Λ ¯ c - ) in pp collisions as a function of s , x F, p ⊥ 2 and p ⊥ in the framework of the QGSJET model. The study of charmed hadron production characteristics in pp collision is particularly important for cosmic ray physics in the context of atmospheric prompt lepton fluxes. Here our aim is to check the reliability of the QGSJET model to be used to study the production of charmed hadrons in cosmic ray hadronic interactions with air nuclei. Charmed hadroproduction cross sections or the charmed hadron average multiplicities in pp collisions are relatively very small. The maximum production of all charmed hadrons takes place with low values of x F, p ⊥ 2 , and p ⊥ within a small range for all values of s under study. Charmed hadroproduction cross sections as a function of x F and p ⊥ 2 are compared with the LEBC-EHS and LEBC-MPS experiment data for D-meson production. The agreement is quite satisfactory for smaller values of p ⊥ 2 (⩽2 (GeV/c) 2). There is an asymmetry in charmed hadroproduction in pp collision. For all x F, asymmetry is prominent in the low value of s . There is a strong preference for producing Λ c + rather than Λ ¯ c - -baryons, while that for producing D ¯ rather than D-mesons for this range of s . Asymmetry increases from zero to ±1 around x F = 0.3 for all values of s and for all charmed hardron groups. The patterns of asymmetric production of different charmed hadrons with x F are approximately the same as that with s . We compare our calculation with the data from Fermilab experiment E781 (SELEX) for Λ c-baryon production. The agreement is quite good. The asymmetry of charmed hadroproduction with p ⊥ does not follow any well defined pattern.

6Li and Gamma Rays: Complementary Constraints on Cosmic‐Ray History

The rare isotope 6Li is made only by cosmic rays, dominantly in alpha+alpha fusion reactions with ISM helium. Consequently, this nuclide provides a unique diagnostic of the history of cosmic rays in our Galaxy. The same hadronic cosmic-ray interactions also produce high-energy gamma rays (mostly via neutral pion production). Thus, hadronic gamma-rays and 6Li are intimately linked. Specifically, 6Li directly encodes the local cosmic-ray fluence over cosmic time, while extragalactic hadronic gamma rays encode an average cosmic-ray fluence over lines of sight out to the horizon. We examine this link and show how 6Li and gamma-rays can be used together to place important model-independent limits on the cosmic-ray history of our Galaxy and the universe. We first constrain gamma-ray production from ordinary Galactic cosmic rays, using the local 6Li abundance. We find that the solar 6Li abundance demands an accompanying extragalactic pionic gamma-ray intensity which exceeds that of the entire observed EGRB by a factor of 2-6. Possible explanations for this discrepancy are discussed. We then constrain Li production using recent determinations of extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGRB). We note that cosmic rays created during cosmic structure formation would lead to pre-Galactic Li production, which would act as a "contaminant" to the primordial 7Li content of metal-poor halo stars. We find the uncertainties in the observed EGRB are so large that we cannot exclude a pre-Galactic Li which is comparable to primordial 7Li. Our limits and their more model-dependent extensions will improve significantly with additional observations of 6Li in halo stars, and with improved measurements of the EGRB spectrum by GLAST. (Abriged abstract)