The GALPROP Cosmic-ray Propagation and Nonthermal Emissions Framework: Release v57

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal. Supplement series Vol. 262; no. 1; pp. 30 - 62
• Main Authors: Porter, T. A., Jóhannesson, G., Moskalenko, I. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Saskatoon The American Astronomical Society 01.09.2022; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Astronomy; Astrophysics; Cosmic dust; Cosmic ray propagation; Cosmic ray showers; Cosmic rays; Dark matter; Datasets; Diffuse radiation; Emissions; Galactic cosmic rays; Galactic structure; Gamma rays; Gamma-ray astronomy; Instrumentation; Interstellar matter; Interstellar medium; Magnetic fields; Modelling; Non-thermal radiation sources; Nuclear physics; Particle physics; Photon emission; Photons; Physics; Propagation; Radiation; Searching
• ISSN: 0067-0049; 1538-4365
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4365/ac80f6

The past decade has brought impressive advances in the astrophysics of cosmic rays (CRs) and multiwavelength astronomy, thanks to the new instrumentation launched into space and built on the ground. Modern technologies employed by those instruments provide measurements with unmatched precision, enabling searches for subtle signatures of dark matter and new physics. Understanding the astrophysical backgrounds to better precision than the observed data is vital in moving to this new territory. A state-of-the-art CR propagation code, called GalProp, is designed to address exactly this challenge. Having 25 yr of development behind it, the GalProp framework has become a de facto standard in the astrophysics of CRs, diffuse photon emissions (radio to γ -rays), and searches for new physics. GalProp uses information from astronomy, particle physics, and nuclear physics to predict CRs and their associated emissions self-consistently, providing a unifying modeling framework. The range of its physical validity covers 18 orders of magnitude in energy, from sub-keV to PeV energies for particles and from μ eV to PeV energies for photons. The framework and the data sets are public and are extensively used by many experimental collaborations and by thousands of individual researchers worldwide for interpretation of their data and for making predictions. This paper details the latest release of the GalProp framework and updated cross sections, further developments of its initially auxiliary data sets for models of the interstellar medium that grew into independent studies of the Galactic structure—distributions of gas, dust, radiation, and magnetic fields—as well as the extension of its modeling capabilities. Example applications included with the distribution illustrating usage of the new features are also described.