Speaker: Corbin Covault , Case Western Reserve University
Abstract: We present an update of selected results and recent activities and plans for the Pierre Auger Observatory. Located near Malargue, Argentina, Auger is the world's largest cosmic ray air shower array. Auger has recently reported a significant detection of large scale anisotropy in the arrival direction of the highest energy cosmic rays. We also describe recent efforts to integrate spectral and composition measurements and what these results tell us about the nature and origin of cosmic ray sources. We address some points of tension between results reported by Auger and those of the Telescope Array (TA), and describe a project involving our group at CWRU to obtain an in-situ cross-calibration between Auger and TA surface detector stations. Finally we describe progress toward the development of the array detector upgrade, called AugerPrime, which aims for improved composition measurements.