Phone: +44 (0) 113 2333888
Email: a.a.watsonleeds.ac.uk
WWW: Web Site

I have interests in all aspects of high energy astroparticle physics, with special interest in the very highest energy cosmic rays. I was head of the Haverah Park extensive air shower project from 1976 until its closure in the early 1990s. This project produced the first evidence for the absence of the celebrated Greisen-Kuzmin-Zatsepin cut-off in the cosmic ray energy spectrum above 4.10¹⁹ eV, in addition to providing key data relating to the arrival distribution and mass composition of cosmic rays.
The Haverh Park group was also involved in searches for gamma ray sources at energies around 1 PeV. More recently research interests of broadened to embrace work at the South Pole aimed at elucidating the mass composition of cosmicr rays in the region of the knee at 1 PeV using a shower array and the AMANDA neutrino detector.
Interest in the highest energy cosmic rays continues through collaboration with the Auger project, a world wide effort to construct detectors of 3000 sqkm in Argentina and the USA to push knowledge of the highest energy cosmic rays still further.

Ongoing Scientific Projects:

• Pierre Auger Observatory (AUGER)

2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2005 | 2004


Latest Journal Publications

1. "Probing the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with neutrinos in the EeV energy range using the Pierre Auger Observatory", Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Issue 10, article id. 022 (2019) (Oct 2019)
2. "The Pierre Auger Observatory: Contributions to the 36th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2019)", arXiv:1909.09073 (Sep 2019)
3. "Probing the origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with neutrinos in the EeV energy range using the Pierre Auger Observatory", arXiv:1906.07422 (Jun 2019)
4. "Limits on point-like sources of ultra-high-energy neutrinos with the Pierre Auger Observatory", arXiv:1906.07419 (Jun 2019)
5. "Multi-Messenger Physics with the Pierre Auger Observatory", arXiv:1904.11918 (Apr 2019)
6. "Measurement of the average shape of longitudinal profiles of cosmic-ray air showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory", Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Issue 03, article id. 018 (2019) (Mar 2019)
7. "Data-driven estimation of the invisible energy of cosmic ray showers with the Pierre Auger Observatory", arXiv:1901.08040 (Jan 2019)
8. "Large-scale Cosmic-Ray Anisotropies above 4 EeV Measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory", The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 868, Issue 1, article id. 4, 12 pp. (2018) (Nov 2018)
9. "Observation of inclined EeV air showers with the radio detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory", Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Issue 10, article id. 026 (2018) (Oct 2018)
10. "An Indication of Anisotropy in Arrival Directions of Ultra-high-energy Cosmic Rays through Comparison to the Flux Pattern of Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Sources", The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 853, Issue 2, article id. L29, 10 pp. (2018) (Feb 2018)
11. "Search for High-energy Neutrinos from Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817 with ANTARES, IceCube, and the Pierre Auger Observatory", The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 850, Issue 2, article id. L35, 18 pp. (2017) (Dec 2017)
12. "The electronics, trigger and data acquisition system for the liquid argon time projection chamber of the DarkSide-50 search for dark matter", Journal of Instrumentation, Volume 12, Issue 12, pp. P12011 (2017) (Dec 2017)
13. "Calibration of the logarithmic-periodic dipole antenna (LPDA) radio stations at the Pierre Auger Observatory using an octocopter", Journal of Instrumentation, Volume 12, Issue 10, pp. T10005 (2017) (Oct 2017)
14. "Spectral calibration of the fluorescence telescopes of the Pierre Auger Observatory", Astroparticle Physics, Volume 95, p. 44-56 (Oct 2017)
15. "Inferences on Mass Composition and Tests of Hadronic Interactions from 0.3 to 100 EeV using the water-Cherenkov Detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory", arXiv:1710.07249 (Oct 2017)
16. "Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger", The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 848, Issue 2, article id. L12, 59 pp. (2017) (Oct 2017)
17. "Observation of a large-scale anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above 8 × 1018 eV", Science, Volume 357, Issue 6357, pp. 1266-1270 (2017) (Sep 2017)
18. "The Pierre Auger Observatory: Contributions to the 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2017)", arXiv:1708.06592 (Aug 2017)
19. "Multi-resolution anisotropy studies of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory", Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Issue 06, article id. 026 (2017) (Jun 2017)
20. "Search for photons with energies above 1018 eV using the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory", Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Issue 04, article id. 009 (2017) (Apr 2017)

Latest Conference Proceedings

1. "The DarkSide Program", Roma International Conference on Astroparticle Physics 2014 (RICAP-14), Noto, Italy, Edited by P. Piattelli; A. Capone; R. Coniglione; G. De Bonis; M. De Vincenzi; C. Distefano; A. Morselli; P. Sapienza; EPJ Web of Conferences, Volume 121, id.06010 (Jul 2
2. "The DarkSide-50 outer detectors", Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 718, Issue 4, article id. 042062 (2016) (May 2016)
3. "The DarkSide awakens", Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 718, Issue 4, article id. 042016 (2016) (May 2016)