Current status and desired precision of the isotopic production cross sections relevant to astrophysics of cosmic rays: Li, Be, B, C, and N.

The precision of the current generation of cosmic-ray (CR) experiments, such as AMS-02, PAMELA, CALET, and ISS-CREAM, is now reaching ≈1-3% in a wide range in energy per nucleon from GeV/nucleon to multi-TeV/nucleon. Their correct interpretation could potentially lead to discoveries of new physics and subtle effects that were unthinkable just a decade ago. However, a major obstacle in doing so is the current uncertainty in the isotopic production cross sections that can be as high as 20-50% or even larger in some cases. While there is a recently reached consensus in the astrophysics community that new measurements of cross sections are desirable, no attempt to evaluate the importance of particular reaction channels and their required precision has been made yet. It is, however, clear that it is a huge work that requires an incremental approach. The goal of this study is to provide the ranking of the isotopic cross sections contributing to the production of the most astrophysically important CR Li, Be, B, C, and N species. In this paper, we (i) rank the reaction channels by their importance for a production of a particular isotope, (ii) provide comparisons plots between the models and data used, and (iii) evaluate a generic beam time necessary to reach a 3% precision in the production cross sections pertinent to the AMS-02 experiment. This first road map may become a starting point in the planning of new measurement campaigns that could be carried out in several nuclear and/or particle physics facilities around the world. A comprehensive evaluation of other isotopes ⩽ 30 will be a subject of follow-up studies.