Abstract: The Tibet AS gamma and LHAASO collaborations recently reported the observation of a gamma-ray diffuse emission with energy up to the PeV level from the Galactic plane.Aims. We discuss the relevance of non-uniform cosmic-ray transport scenarios and the implications of these results for cosmic-ray physics.Methods. We used the DRAGON and HERMES codes to build high-resolution maps and spectral distributions of that emission for several representative models under the condition that they reproduce a wide set of local cosmic-ray data up to 100 PeV.Results. We show that the energy spectra measured by Tibet AS gamma, LHAASO, ARGO-YBJ, and Fermi-LAT in several regions of interest in the sky can all be reasonably described in terms of the emission arising by the Galactic cosmic-ray “sea”. We also show that all our models are compatible with IceTop gamma-ray upper limits.Conclusions. We compare the predictions of conventional and space-dependent transport models with those data sets. Although the Fermi-LAT, ARGO-YBJ, and LHAASO preliminary data slightly favor this scenario, due to the still large experimental errors, the poorly known source spectral shape at the highest energies, the potential role of spatial fluctuations in the leptonic component, and a possible larger-than-expected contamination due to unresolved sources, a solid confirmation requires further investigations. We discuss which measurements will be most relevant in order to resolve the remaining degeneracy.

Abstract: We perform a combined analysis of the recent AMS-02 data on electrons, positrons, electrons plus positrons and positron fraction, in a self-consistent framework where we realize a theoretical modeling of all the astrophysical components that can contribute to the observed fluxes in the whole energy range. The primary electron contribution is modeled through the sum of an average flux from distant sources and the fluxes from the local supernova remnants in the Green catalog. The secondary electron and positron fluxes originate from interactions on the interstellar medium of primary cosmic rays, for which we derive a novel determination by using AMS-02 proton and helium data. Primary positrons and electrons from pulsar wind nebulae in the ATNF catalog are included and studied in terms of their most significant (while loosely known) properties and under different assumptions (average contribution from the whole catalog, single dominant pulsar, a few dominant pulsars). We obtain a remarkable agreement between our various modeling and the AMS-02 data for all types of analysis, demonstrating that the whole AMS-02 leptonic data admit a self-consistent interpretation in terms of astrophysical contributions.

Abstract: In this work, we discuss the possibility to test Heavy Neutral Leptons (HNLs) using “Cosmic Ray Beam Dump” experiments. In analogy with terrestrial beam dump experiments, where a beam first hits a target and is then absorbed by a shield, we consider high-energy incident cosmic rays impinging on the Earth's atmosphere and then the Earth's surface. We focus here on HNL production from atmospherically produced kaon, pion and D-meson decays, and discuss the possible explanation of the appearing Cherenkov showers observed by the SHALON Cherenkov telescope and the ultra-high energy events detected by the neutrino experiment ANITA. We show that these observations can not be explained with a long-lived HNL, as the relevant parameter space is excluded by existing constraints. Then we propose two new experimental setups that are inspired by these experiments, namely a Cherenkov telescope pointing at a sub-horizontal angle and shielded by the mountain cliff at Mount Thor, and a geostationary satellite that observes part of the Sahara desert. We show that the Cherenkov telescope at Mount Thor can probe currently untested HNL parameter space for masses below the kaon mass. We also show that the geostationary satellite experiment can significantly increase the HNL parameter space coverage in the whole mass range from 10 MeV up to 2 GeV and test neutrino mixing |U-& alpha;4|(2) down to 10(-11) for masses around 300 MeV.

Abstract: We present an extensive analysis on the determination of the isotropic radio background. We consider six different radio maps, ranging from 22 MHz to 2.3 GHz and covering a large fraction of the sky. The large scale emission is modeled as a linear combination of an isotropic component plus the Galactic synchrotron radiation and thermal bremsstrahlung. Point-like and extended sources are either masked or accounted for by means of a template. We find a robust estimate of the isotropic radio background, with limited scatter among different Galactic models. The level of the isotropic background lies significantly above the contribution obtained by integrating the number counts of observed extragalactic sources. Since the isotropic component dominates at high latitudes, thus making the profile of the total emission flat, a Galactic origin for such excess appears unlikely. We conclude that, unless a systematic offset is present in the maps, and provided that our current understanding of the Galactic synchrotron emission is reasonable, extragalactic sources well below the current experimental threshold seem to account for the majority of the brightness of the extragalactic radio sky.

Abstract: We present the detection of very-high-energy gamma-ray emission above 100 TeV from HAWC J2227+610 with the High-Altitude Water Cherenov Gamma-Ray Observatory (HAWC) observatory. Combining our observations with previously published results by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERTIAS), we interpret the gamma-ray emission from HAWC J2227+610 as emission from protons with a lower limit in their cutoff energy of 800 TeV. The most likely source of the protons is the associated supernova remnant G106.3+2.7, making it a good candidate for a Galactic PeVatron. However, a purely leptonic origin of the observed emission cannot be excluded at this time.