L'expérience H.E.S.S. est un réseau de télescope Tcherenkov, situé en Namibie, qui observe le rayonnement de sources astrophysiques de rayons gamma de très haute énergie. Depuis sa mise en service il y a plus de dix ans, H.E.S.S. a permis d'améliorer considérablement notre vision de l'univers à ces énergies. Depuis 2012, le démarrage de la deuxième phase de l'expérience avec la mise en service d'un cinquième télescope permet de baisser le seuil en énergie de l'expérience.L'optimisation d'une analyse multivariée au sein de l'expérience H.E.S.S. est présentée dans cette thèse. L'analyse Xeff a été amélioré en prenant en compte les conditions d'observations, et en introduisant de nouvelles variables dans l'estimateur. Un gain de sensibilité de l'analyse par rapport aux analyses standards est observé. Cette méthode a été ensuite utilisée pour diverses analyses de sources de rayons gamma.La prise en compte des effets de la focalisation de l'analyse de données de H.E.S.S. II est détaillée. L'ajustement de la distance entre la caméra et les miroir du cinquième télescope permet d'améliorer l'image dans le plan focal. L'amélioration de la reconstruction et le gain en sensibilité qui en découle est présenté.L'étude du rayonnement gamma de quatre candidats d'associations de vestiges de supernova et de nuages moléculaires est présentée : G349.7+0.2, W51, la nébuleuse de la Tornade, et HESS J1745-303. Une interprétation de ce rayonnement utilisant également les données de Fermi-LAT permet d'estimer l'origine dominante des mécanismes d'émission et d'appréhender l'efficacité d'accélération de particules par ces systèmes.Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse ont fait l'objet de deux notes internes à la collaboration H.E.S.S., de multiples présentations dans des conférences internationales et de publications scientifiques. / The H.E.S.S. experiment is an array of Cherenkov telescopes, located in Namibia, observing the very high energy gamma rays from astrophysical sources. H.E.S.S. greatly increased our understanding of the very high energy non thermal universe. Since 2012, a fifth telescope was installed at the center of the array. This improvement increase the energy range and the sensitivity of the detector.The optimization of a multivariate analysis method, within the H.E.S.S. framework, is presented in this thesis. The Xeff analysis is improved by taking into account the observation conditions and by increasing the number of discriminating variables. The sensitivity of this analysis compared to standard analyses is demonstrated. Xeff is then used to analyze several sources of gamma rays.The effects of the focus impacting the H.E.S.S. II data are described. They are taken into account in the analysis and an optimization of the distance between the mirrors and the camera is presented.The study of the gamma emission from four candidates of molecular clouds and supernova remnant associations is presented. The H.E.S.S. data from G349.7+0.2, W51, the Tornado nebula and HESS J1745-303 is performed. The interpretation of their emission, using also Fermi-LAT data, leads to the estimation of the particles acceleration efficiency in these objects.The work described in this thesis led to the production of two internal notes in the H.E.S.S. collaboration, to several presentations in international conferences, and scientific publications.

This dissertation seeks to capture Muhammad's emergence as Prophet. It starts from the premise that he located himself as a Prophet within a fraternity of prophethood. More specifically he has seen his work as a continuation of the Biblical prophetic tradition. However he has stressed his election as correcting what has been altered in this Biblical tradition. Muhammad: A prophet of God argues that he has as prophet the same defining elements as Biblical prophets; as result we must not criticise him unnecessarily, that is, for the sake of fitting him into our categories. Muhammad must be seen terms of his experiences. In addition we must capture his contribution to humanity. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M.A. (Religious Studies)

Submitted by Emanuel Varela Cardoso (emanuel.varela@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-11-07T20:16:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 FELIPE SÉRVULO MACIEL COSTA – DISSERTAÇÃO (PPGFísica) 2017.pdf: 4976980 bytes, checksum: eb50b091cd9c69ef0ba3d67fba7d69bb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-07T20:16:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FELIPE SÉRVULO MACIEL COSTA – DISSERTAÇÃO (PPGFísica) 2017.pdf: 4976980 bytes, checksum: eb50b091cd9c69ef0ba3d67fba7d69bb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-11 / Capes / Há cerca de vinte anos, dois grupos de pesquisadores estudaram o brilho aparente das super novas do tipo Ia(SNe Ia) e, de forma independente, descobriram que a expansão atual do universo é acelerada. Esta descoberta lançou a astronomia para a era da energia escura, componente energética que, dentro da teoria da relatividade geral,é a responsável pela aceleração cósmica. Porém, a presença de uma opacidade cósmica nos dados de super novas pode imitar o comportamento de uma componente escura. Hoje em dia, embora a aceleração cósmica seja sustentada por outras observações astronômicas, uma possível presença de opacidade nos dados das SNe Ia pode levar a erros nas estimativas de parâmetros cosmológicos. Assim, vários trabalhos na literatura tem investigado a hipótese da transparência do Universo utilizando medidas de distâncias de luminosidade de velas-padrão, como supernovas do tipo Ia (SNeIa) e gamma raybursts (GRBs),e de distâncias obtidas pela taxa de expansão de Hubble H(z), sendo estas últimas independentes da hipótese de transparência cósmica. Nesta dissertação, nós fazemos uma revisão bibliográ fica sobre estes trabalhos, nos quais foram usados dados de SNeIa, GRBse H(z). Novos limites sobre a opacidade foram colocados com os mais recentes dados de GRBse H(z) no contexto do modelo padrão da cosmologia. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que a hipótese da transparência cósmica está em acordo com os dados, porém, os resultados vindos das observações de GRBs, que alcançam z > 9, onde z é o redshift, não excluem a presença de alguma fonte de opacidade com alto grau de con fiança estatística. / About twenty years ago, two groups of researchers studying the apparent brightness of type Ia super nova e (SNe Ia), independently discovered that the current expansion of the universe is accelerated. This discovery launched astronomy in to the dark energy era, an energy component that, with in the theory of general relativity, is responsible for the cosmic acceleration. However, the presence of a cosmic opacity in SNe Ia data may mimicthe behavior of a dark component. Now a days, although the cosmic acceleration is supported by other astronomical observations, a possible presence of opacity in the SNe Ia data can lead to errors in the cosmological parameter estimates. Thus, several works in the literature have investigated the universe's transparency hypothesis using measurement so fluminosity distances of standard candles, suchas SNe Ia and gamma ray bursts (GRBs), and distances obtained of the cosmic expansion rate H(z). These last ones being independent of the cosmic transparency hypothesis. In this dissertation, we make a bibliographical review on these works and new limits on opacity were placed with the latest data of GRB sand H(z) in the context of the standard model. We have found that the cosmic transparency hypothesis is in agreement with the data, but the results from the observations of GRBs, which reach z > 9, where z is the it red shift, do not exclude the presence of some source of opacity with a high degree of statistical con dence.

La notion de « cosmos » occupe une place centrale dans toute l’oeuvre de Jaccottet, moins en tant qu’abstraction conceptuelle que sous forme de « traits épars », diffusés partout dans ce monde-ci. La conception jaccottéenne du cosmos s’inscrit dans la lignée de la cosmologie grecque, notamment dans celle de Pythagore qui assimile le mot « cosmos » à la triade ordre-monde-parure des femmes. Notre première partie s’organise ainsi autour de cette triple signification du « cosmos », dont la première dimension s’avère tout particulièrement significative, puisque l’ordre est à la source de la perception esthétique chez l’homme, alors que le monde n’est possible qu’étant ordonné. Le travail que mène le poète à la poursuite d’un ordre qui transparaît à travers les paysages et les choses acquiert alors un sens existentiel et ontologique, notamment aux temps modernes où le monde humain s’approche plus du « chaos » que du « cosmos », c’est-à-dire d’un ensemble beau, ordonné et uni. Se conduisant en « élève du monde », le poète se laisse guider par la lumière des choses dont la vie, à l’opposé de celle de l’homme, s’inscrit dans la belle ordonnance du cosmos / The notion of the « cosmos » takes a central place in the work of Jaccottet, less as the conceptual abstraction than as the form of the “sparse traits” disseminated in this world. The Jaccottet’s conception of the cosmos takes part in the Greek Cosmology and especially in the Pythagoras Cosmology that assimilates the word of “cosmos” with a triad: order-worldwomen looks. The first part of our study is organized around that triple significance of “cosmos”, whose first dimension is particularly full of significance due to the fact that the order is at the source of esthetic perception for a human being, and the world is not possible without order. The project that undertakes the poet in the research of an order that shows through the scenery and the objects, acquire then an existential and ontological meaning, especially in the modern times in which the human life approaches more to the “chaos” than to the “cosmos” that represents an altogether of beauty, order and union. As an “apprentice of the world”, the poet lets himself be guided by the light of the things whose life, contrary to the human’s life, is registered in the beautiful order of cosmos.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:02:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5186.pdf: 2599348 bytes, checksum: 26d9e80466a7d2fc73ebc77310c28500 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-18 / Updating the physics curriculum for high school has been a challenge to all researchers and teachers in the area for at least two decades and has appeared in many academic studies that account for the needs justifying this update. However, we still haven´t achieved this update in the classrooms. But there is already some research focused on structure and activities for teaching and learning sequences that have emerged in the field of physics education research in order to fill this gap in the curriculum of physics for high school. From this research we reflected on the possibilities of carrying out a process of transformation in regards to the theme of cosmic rays in learning how to teach, based on the rules and features of the Theory of Didactic Transposition, proposed by Ives Chevallard (1991). Thus, we implemented a sequence of teaching and learning about cosmic rays in order to determine the point of impact and reconstruct the direction of arrival of a primary cosmic ray from data recorded by the Pierre Auger Observatory. We applied this activity in the form of a mini course in a public school in the city of Sertãozinho/SP. This activity addressed fundamental concepts such as energy conservation, center of mass, velocity, coordinate systems, time references and observation of the sky. / Atualizar o currículo de Física para o Ensino Médio é um desafio a todos os pesquisadores e professores da área, e há pelo menos duas décadas figuram no meio acadêmico muitas pesquisas que dão conta de justificar as necessidades desta atualização. No entanto, ainda não percebemos nas salas um reflexo desta atualização. Mas já existem algumas pesquisas focadas em estruturar atividades e sequências de ensino e aprendizagem, e que têm surgido com força no campo de pesquisa em ensino de Física, visando a suprir essa carência no currículo de Física do Ensino Médio. Foi neste sentido que refletimos sobre as possibilidades de se realizar um processo de transformação do tema Raios Cósmicos em saber a ensinar, com base nas regras e características da Teoria da Transposição Didática, proposta por Ives Chevallard (1991). Assim, implementamos uma sequência de ensinoaprendizagem sobre Raios Cósmicos com o objetivo de determinar o ponto de impacto e reconstrução da direção de chegada de um Raio Cósmico primário a partir de dados registrados pelo Observatório Pierre Auger e aplicamos tal atividade na forma de um minicurso em uma Escola Pública, na cidade de Sertãozinho SP. Esta atividade aborda conceitos fundamentais, como conservação de energia, centro de massa, velocidade, sistemas de coordenadas, referências de tempo e observação do céu.

Les glaciers de montagne sont l'un des meilleurs indicateurs des changements climatiques du fait de leur réponse rapide à de faibles variations des paramètres de forçage et de leur large distribution sur la planète. Les chronologies glaciaires représentent de ce fait des enregistrements de référence parmi les reconstitutions paléo-environnementales. Dans le contexte actuel de réchauffement et de retrait glaciaire accéléré, le développement de telles chronologies est nécessaire afin de mettre en perspective ces changements rapides et de grande ampleur avec ceux du Quaternaire récent. Si les fluctuations glaciaires holocènes sont relativement bien contraintes dans les Alpes centrales et orientales, les données sont en revanche extrêmement fragmentaires dans les Alpes occidentales avant la seconde moitié du Petit Age Glaciaire ss (1570-1850 AD). Pour pallier ce manque, nous avons conduit une étude sur plusieurs sites répartis dans trois massifs des Alpes françaises (Mont Blanc, Belledonne, Ecrins), en mettant en œuvre une approche multi-proxies basée sur plusieurs méthodes de datation (dendrochronologie, datation cosmogéniques 10Be, lichénométrie, datations radiocarbone) – dont certaines utilisées pour la première fois à cette échelle spatiale et temporelle. Tandis que les potentialités de chacune de ces méthodes sont discutées, notre étude a permis de proposer une chronologie des variations glaciaires couvrant la période holocène, dont les résultats sont comparés à d'autres enregistrements paléoclimatiques régionaux à haute résolution. Les résultats révèlent un schéma des fluctuations glaciaires holocènes comparable à celui généralement admis dans le reste des Alpes, avec la mise en évidence de récurrences glaciaires importantes au début de l'Holocène, antérieures à 9.3 ka, et la datation du début de la période du Néoglaciaire dès 4.2 ka. Une contrainte précise des différents stades de la seconde moitié de l'Holocène a pu être obtenue sur le site de la Mer de Glace grâce à l'approche dendroglaciologique sur bois subfossiles (Pinus cembra). Ce site apparaît d'ores et déjà comme l'un des plus importants pour l'étude de cette période puisque la chronologie établie couvre les 4000 dernières années et représente le quatrième enregistrement de cette précision à être développé dans les Alpes. Les datations obtenues indiquent en outre un synchronisme marqué des maxima glaciaires à l'échelle régionale, ce qui suggère une similarité des forçages sur la frange occidentale des Alpes. Les différences observées avec les chronologies du reste de la chaine s'expliqueraient principalement par les caractéristiques des glaciers étudiés, en particulier leur temps de réponse différent. / Mountain glaciers are one of the most reliable climatic proxy on Earth through their rapid response to slight changes in forcing and their wide distribution. For these reasons glacial chronologies constitutes reference series against which other paleoenvironmental reconstructions are evaluated. In the current context of global warming and glacier withdrawal worldwide, the building of such records is increasingly needed to assess these rapid and dramatic changes on the longer Late Quaternary timescale. The Holocene glacier fluctuations are now fairly well known in the Central and Eastern Alps, but datas from the Western Alps are extremely sparse, and the chronology of glacier fluctuations before the second half of the Little Ice Age (LIA) ss (1570-1850 AD) is thus poorly constrained. To fill this gap, we carried out a study on several sites distributed in three glaciated range of the French Alps (Mont Blanc, Belledonne, Ecrins). We choose a multi-proxies approach based on the implementation of several dating methods (dendrochronology, Cosmic Ray Exposure dating with 10Be, lichenometry, radiocarbon) – some of which were used for the first time on these spatial- and time-scales. This approach allowed us to propose a glacial chronology spanning the Holocene. Moreover, strength and weakness of the different methods used are discussed, and the results are compared to other high resolution proxies from the Great Alpine Region. Our results shows a picture broadly similar to the Holocene glacier variations model currently accepted in the European Alps : we shows evidence for large Early-Holocene advances prior to 9.3 ka and for the beginning of the Neoglacial period from 4.2 ka onwards. An accurate dating of the Neoglacial stadials was possible at Mer de Glace through the use of a dendroglaciological approach on subfossil woods (Pinus cembra). This site already appears as one of the most interesting in the whole Alps to study the Neoglacial period, as the chronology established there spans the last 4 ka and is the 4th record of this kind builds in the Alps. The datings presented here reveals a marked synchroneity for Neoglacial maxima at the Alpine scale, which could indicate similar forcing on glaciers from the Western fringe. Main discrepancies between the records could be explained by topographic and size characteristics of the studied glaciers, as expressed by their response time.

Submitted by Claudinei Pracidelli (cpracide@ipen.br) on 2016-06-22T12:43:46Z No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-22T12:43:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado em Tecnologia Nuclear) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:15:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FranciscoES_Fis.pdf: 479617 bytes, checksum: 973534294f52a9d1981e10ed49800d56 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-07-26 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Many astronomical observations in the last few years are strongly suggesting that the current Universe is spatially flat and dominated by an exotic form of energy. This unknown energy density accelerates the universe expansion and corresponds to around 70% of its total density being usually called Dark Energy or Quintessence. One of the candidates to dark energy is the so-called cosmological constant (Λ) which is usually interpreted as the vacuum energy density. However, in order to remove the discrepancy between the expected and observed values for the vacuum energy density some current models assume that the vacuum energy is continuously decaying due to its possible coupling with the others matter fields existing in the Cosmos. In this dissertation, starting from concepts and basis of General Relativity Theory, we study the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation with emphasis on the anisotropies or temperature fluctuations which are one of the oldest relic of the observed Universe. The anisotropies are deduced by integrating the Boltzmann equation in order to explain qualitatively the generation and c1assification of the fluctuations. In the following we construct explicitly the angular power spectrum of anisotropies for cosmologies with cosmological constant (ΛCDM) and a decaying vacuum energy density (Λ(t)CDM). Finally, with basis on the quadrupole moment measured by the WMAP experiment, we estimate the decaying rates of the vacuum energy density in matter and in radiation for a smoothly and non-smoothly decaying vacuum / Muitas observa??es astron?micas feitas nos ?ltimos anos sugerem fortemente que o universo ? espacialmente plano e dominado por uma forma de energia ex?tica. Esta densidade de energia desconhecida acelera a expans?o do universo e corresponde a cerca de 70% da densidade total de energia sendo chamada de Energia Escura ou Quintess?ncia. Um dos candidatos a energia escura, ? a chamada constante cosmol?gica (Λ) que ? usualmente interpretada como a densidade de energia do v?cuo. Contudo, para remover a discrep?ncia entre os valores esperado e observado para a densidade de energia do v?cuo, alguns modelos atuais assumem que a energia do v?cuo decai continuamente devido a seu poss?vel acoplamento com os outros campos materiais do cosmos. Nesta disserta??o, partindo dos conceitos e fundamentos da teoria da relatividade geral, estudamos a radia??o c?smica de fundo com ?nfase nas anisotropias ou flutua??es em sua temperatura que servem de base observacional para o modelo do Big Bang e ? uma das rel?quias mais antigas do universo. As anisotropias s?o deduzidas a partir da integra??o da equa??o de Boltzrnann, que fazemos em primeira ordem para explicar qualitativamente a gera??o e c1assifica??o destas flutua??es. Em seguida construimos o espectro angular de pot?ncia das anisotropias e deduzimos sua forma expl?cita em grandes escalas para o modelo com constante cosmol?gica (ACDM) e para um modelo com decaimento do v?cuo (Λ(t)CDM). Com base no momento de quadrup?lo medido pelo experimento do WMAP; estimamos as raz?es de decaimento da densidade de energia do v?cuo em mat?ria e em radia??o tanto no decaimento homog?neo como no n?o- homog?neo

abstract: Several short term exogenic forcings affecting Earth's climate are but recently identified. Lunar nutation periodicity has implications for numerical meteorological prediction. Abrupt shifts in solar wind bulk velocity, particle density, and polarity exhibit correlation with terrestrial hemispheric vorticity changes, cyclonic strengthening and the intensification of baroclinic disturbances. Galactic Cosmic ray induced tropospheric ionization modifies cloud microphysics, and modulates the global electric circuit. This dissertation is constructed around three research questions: (1): What are the biweekly declination effects of lunar gravitation upon the troposphere? (2): How do United States severe weather reports correlate with heliospheric current sheet crossings? and (3): How does cloud cover spatially and temporally vary with galactic cosmic rays? Study 1 findings show spatial consistency concerning lunar declination extremes upon Rossby longwaves. Due to the influence of Rossby longwaves on synoptic scale circulation, our results could theoretically extend numerical meteorological forecasting. Study 2 results indicate a preference for violent tornadoes to occur prior to a HCS crossing. Violent tornadoes (EF3+) are 10% more probable to occur near, and 4% less probable immediately after a HCS crossing. The distribution of hail and damaging wind reports do not mirror this pattern. Polarity is critical for the effect. Study 3 results confirm anticorrelation between solar flux and low-level marine-layer cloud cover, but indicate substantial regional variability between cloud cover altitude and GCRs. Ultimately, this dissertation serves to extend short term meteorological forecasting, enhance climatological modeling and through analysis of severe violent weather and heliospheric events, protect property and save lives. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Geography 2013

O objetivo desta dissertação é a busca de anisotropias em grandes escalas angulares no fluxo de raios cósmicos acima de 4 × 10^{18} eV e o confronto dos resultados obtidos com as previsões dos principais modelos astrofísicos na região de ultra altas energias. Com esse propósito foram analisados os dados de chuveiros atmosféricos extensos registrados pelo Observatório Pierre Auger no período de 01 de janeiro de 2004 até 31 de agosto de 2016, compreendendo um total de 108 480 eventos detetados com ângulos zenitais entre 0 e 80 graus acima de 4 × 10^{18} eV. Efeitos sistemáticos locais como a influência da variação das condições atmosféricas e a influência do campo geomagnético nos estimadores de energia das cascatas atmosféricas foram corrigidos cuidadosamente para evitar a introdução de sinais espúrios de anisotropias na análise. Especial ênfase foi dedicada à construção de um mapa bidimensional na esfera celeste com os valores da exposição para cada direção no céu, calculado com uma precisão de 1% a partir da informação da área de coleção efetiva no Observatório Pierre Auger a cada minuto. Da mesma forma, a distribuição das direções de chegada dos eventos foi registrada em mapas bidimensionais na esfera celeste que, após corrigidos pela exposição, são transformados nos mapas de fluxo usados na análise quantitativa para a busca de anisotropias. Neste trabalho procurou-se padrões dipolares de anisotropias, os quais foram quantificados usando o método de expansão multipolar em harmônicos esféricos. Diferentemente do método bidimensional de Rayleigh usado na maioria dos estudos deste tipo, o método aqui utilizado fornece de maneira direta as três componentes cartesianas do dipolo, por meio das quais a reconstrução da amplitude e orientação espacial do dipolo é feita de maneira mais natural. A busca de anisotropias foi realizada em dois intervalos de energia independentes, assim foram analisados por separado os eventos com energias entre 4 × 10^{18} e 8 × 10^{18} eV e de energias maiores que 8 × 10^{18} eV. No primeiro intervalo não foi encontrado nenhum sinal de anisotropia estatisticamente significativo. No segundo intervalo foi encontrada uma anisotropia dipolar de amplitude d = (7.9 ± 1.1)% com coordenadas equatoriais (_d , _d ) = (103 ± 10 , 38 ± 7 ) graus e uma probabilidade de ocorrência ao acaso de 6.90 × 10^{8} , correspondendo a uma significância estatística acima do limiar de descoberta de 5 . Tal amplitude e direção são melhor explicadas assumindo-se uma origem extragaláctica para os raios cósmicos com energias acima de 8 × 10^{18} eV. / The aim of this dissertation is the search for large scale anisotropies in the cosmic ray flux above 4 × 10^{18} eV and the comparison of the results with the predictions of the main astrophysical models in the ultra high energy region. With this purpose we analyzed the data of extensive air showers detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory in the period of 1st January 2004 to 31st August 2016 comprising a total of 108 480 events with zenith angles between 0 and 80 degrees above the threshold of 4 × 10^{18} eV. Local systematic effects such as the influence of the variation of the atmospheric conditions and the effect of the geomagnetic field in the energy estimators were properly corrected to avoid the introduction of spurious anisotropy signals in the analysis. Special emphasis was placed on the construction of a two-dimensional map on the celestial sphere with the exposure values for each direction on the sky, calculated with an accuracy of 1% from the information of the effective collection area of the observatory at every minute. Likewise, the arrival directions distribution of the events was recorded in two-dimensional maps on the celestial sphere that after correcting by the exposure were transformed into the flux maps to be used in the quantitative analysis for the anisotropies search. In this work we search for dipolar-like anisotropy patterns, which were quantified by performing a spherical harmonics decomposition of the cosmic ray flux map. Unlike the traditional two-dimensional Rayleigh method used in the majority of the studies of this kind, the method used here directly provides the three cartesian components of the dipole, allowing the reconstruction of its amplitude and orientation in a more natural way. The anisotropy search was made in two independent energy bins, so the distributions of the events with energies between 4 × 10^{18} and 8 × 10^{18} eV and those with energies greater than 8 × 10^{18} eV were analyzed separately. In the first energy bin no statistically significant departure from isotropy was found. In the second energy bin a dipole anisotropy of amplitude d = (7.9 ± 1.1)% with equatorial coordinates (_d , _d ) = (103 ± 10 , 38 ± 7 ) degrees and a chance probability of 6.90 × 10^{8} was found, corresponding to a statistical significance above the discovery threshold of 5 . Such amplitude and direction for the reconstructed dipole is better explained if an extragalactic origin is assumed for the bulk of cosmic rays above 8 × 10^{18} eV.