Multimessenger observations support cosmic ray interactions surrounding acceleration sources

The observations of the energy spectra of cosmic rays have revealed complicated structures. Especially, spectral hardenings in the boron-to-carbon and boron-to-oxygen ratios above ∼200 GV have been revealed by AMS-02 and DAMPE experiments. One scenario to account for the hardenings of secondary-to-primary ratios is the nuclear fragmentation of freshly accelerated particles around sources. In this work, we further study this scenario based on new observations of Galactic diffuse gamma rays by LHAASO and neutrinos by IceCube. We find that the spectra of cosmic ray nuclei, the diffuse ultra-high-energy gamma rays, and the Galactic component of neutrinos can be simultaneously explained, given an average confinement and interaction time of ∼0.2 Myr around sources. These multimessenger data thus provide evidence of non-negligible grammage of Galactic cosmic rays surrounding sources besides the traditional one during the propagation.