Inverting cosmic ray propagation by convolutional neural networks

We propose a machine learning method to investigate the propagation of cosmic rays based on the precisely measured spectra of the primary and secondary cosmic ray nuclei of Li, Be, B, C, and O from AMS-02, ACE, and Voyager-1. We train two convolutional neural networks. One network learns how to infer propagation and source parameters from the energy spectra of cosmic rays, and the other network, which is similar to the former, has the flexibility to learn from the data with added artificial fluctuations. Together with the simulated data generated by GALPROP, we find that both networks can properly invert the propagation process and infer the propagation and source parameters reasonably well. This approach can be much more efficient than the traditional Markov chain Monte Carlo fitting method for deriving the propagation parameters if users choose to update confidence intervals with new experimental data. Both of the trained networks are available at (https://github.com/alan200276/CR_ML).

Automated summary

We propose a machine learning method to investigate the propagation of cosmic rays based on the precisely measured spectra of cosmic ray nuclei. Two convolutional neural networks are trained and validated using simulated data. The results show the effectiveness and feasibility of this machine learning approach.