Blazars are a highly variable, radio-loud subclass of active galactic nuclei. In order to better understand such objects we must be able to easily identify candidate blazars from the growing population of unidentified sources. Working toward this goal, we attempt to identify new gamma-ray blazar candidates from a sample of 102 previously unidentified sources. These sources are selected from The Astronomer's Telegram and the literature on the basis of non-periodic variability and multi-wavelength behavior. We then attempt to associate these objects to an IR counterpart in the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer all-sky survey. We are able to identify 16 candidate sources whose IR colors are consistent with those of the blazar population. Of those, 13 sources have IR colors indicative of being gamma-ray emitting blazar candidates. These sources all possess archival multi-wavelength observations that support their blazar-like nature.

Identification of New Gamma-Ray Blazar Candidates with Multifrequency Archival Observations

TOSTI, Gino;
2013

Abstract

Blazars are a highly variable, radio-loud subclass of active galactic nuclei. In order to better understand such objects we must be able to easily identify candidate blazars from the growing population of unidentified sources. Working toward this goal, we attempt to identify new gamma-ray blazar candidates from a sample of 102 previously unidentified sources. These sources are selected from The Astronomer's Telegram and the literature on the basis of non-periodic variability and multi-wavelength behavior. We then attempt to associate these objects to an IR counterpart in the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer all-sky survey. We are able to identify 16 candidate sources whose IR colors are consistent with those of the blazar population. Of those, 13 sources have IR colors indicative of being gamma-ray emitting blazar candidates. These sources all possess archival multi-wavelength observations that support their blazar-like nature.
2013
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11391/1224122
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