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

TL;DR

This study identifies 13 new gamma-ray blazar candidates by analyzing archival multi-wavelength data and IR colors, aiding the classification of unidentified sources in astrophysics.

Contribution

The paper introduces a method to identify gamma-ray blazar candidates using multi-wavelength archival data and IR color analysis, expanding the catalog of potential blazars.

Findings

13 new gamma-ray blazar candidates identified

16 sources have IR colors consistent with blazars

Archival data supports blazar-like nature of candidates

Abstract

Blazars are a highly-variable, radio-loud subclass of active galactic nuclei (AGN). In order to better understand such objects we must be able to easily identify candidate blazars from the growing population of unidentified sources. Working towards this goal we attempt to identify new gamma-ray blazar candidates from a sample of 102 previously unidentified sources. These sources are selected from Astronomer's Telegrams 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 WISE all-sky survey. We are able to identify sixteen candidate sources whose IR colors are consistent with those of the blazar population. Of those sixteen, thirteen 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.