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

TL;DR

GALPROP is a comprehensive, publicly available cosmic-ray propagation framework that models cosmic rays and associated emissions across a broad energy range, aiding astrophysics and dark matter research with recent updates and new features.

Contribution

This paper presents the latest release of GALPROP, including updated cross sections, extended datasets, and new modeling capabilities for cosmic-ray and interstellar medium studies.

Findings

Enhanced modeling of cosmic-ray propagation across 18 orders of magnitude in energy.

Updated cross sections improve accuracy of emission predictions.

Extended datasets for Galactic structure and interstellar medium components.

Abstract

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 (DM) and new physics. Understanding the astrophysical backgrounds to better precision than the observed data is vital in moving to this new territory. The state-of-the-art CR propagation code called GALPROP is designed to address exactly this challenge. Having 25 years of development behind it, the GALPROP framework has become a de-facto standard in the astrophysics of CRs, diffuse photon emissions (radio- to gamma-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 modelling framework. The range of its physical validity covers 18 orders of magnitude in energy, from sub-keV to PeV energies for particles and from micro-eV to PeV energies for photons. The framework and the datasets 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 datasets 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 modelling capabilities. Example applications included with the distribution illustrating usage of the new features are also described.