Abstract
Cosmic rays (CRs) play a key role in the physics and chemistry of molecular clouds and circumstellar disks, being a primary source of heating and ionization in these regions. The resulting ionization fraction governs the evolving chemistry, determines the coupling of the gas with the galactic magnetic field, controls the rate of dust coagulation and the maximum size of the aggregates, etc. As the energy spectra of interstellar CRs penetrating into the clouds and disks can be drastically modified and attenuated, the knowledge of the local CR spectra is essential for adequate description of the physical and chemical processes occurring in these dense phases. I will present the recently developed approaches allowing accurate calculation of the local CR spectra.
Anyone interested is welcome to attend.