Unveiling Cosmic Messengers: From Plasma Scales to Galactic Observables

Over the past decade, space-based experiments such as AMS-02, DAMPE, CALET, and Fermi-LAT, together with ground-based observatories including HAWC, H.E.S.S., and LHAASO, have transformed the study of Galactic cosmic rays and gamma rays into a precision science. This new observational era raises fundamental questions about the plasma processes responsible for particle acceleration, magnetic-field amplification, and cosmic-ray transport in astrophysical environments. 

In this talk, I will show how kinetic plasma simulations provide a first-principles description of particle acceleration at shocks, and how laboratory astrophysics experiments can be used to reproduce and test key aspects of collisionless shock physics under controlled conditions. I will then discuss how cosmic rays modify the surrounding plasma close to their sources, driving instabilities and modifying the local magnetic and transport properties.