Optical spectroscopic observations of γ-ray blazar candidates. I. Preliminary results
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
- INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Bologna, via Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna (Italy)
- Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apdo. Postal 877, Ensenada, 22800 Baja California (Mexico)
- Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica, Apartado Postal 51-216, 72000 Puebla (Mexico)
- SLAC-National Laboratory and Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States)
- Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Perugia, I-06123 Perugia (Italy)
A significant fraction (∼30%) of the γ-ray sources listed in the second Fermi/LAT (2FGL) catalog is still of unknown origin, being not yet associated with counterparts at lower energies. Using the available information at lower energies and optical spectroscopy on the selected counterparts of these γ-ray objects, we can pinpoint their exact nature. Here, we present a pilot project pointing to assess the effectiveness of the several classification methods developed to select γ-ray blazar candidates. To this end, we report optical spectroscopic observations of a sample of five γ-ray blazar candidates selected on the basis of their infrared Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) colors or of their low-frequency radio properties. Blazars come in two main classes, BL Lac objects and FSRQs, showing similar optical spectra except for the stronger emission lines of the latter. For three of our sources, the almost featureless optical spectra obtained confirm their BL Lac nature, while for the source WISEJ022051.24+250927.6 we observe emission lines with equivalent width EW ∼ 31 Å, identifying it as a FSRQ with z = 0.48. The source WISEJ064459.38+603131.7, although not featuring a clear radio counterpart, shows a blazar-like spectrum with weak emission lines with EW ∼ 7 Å, yielding a redshift estimate of z = 0.36. In addition, we report optical spectroscopic observations of four WISE sources associated with known γ-ray blazars without a firm classification or redshift estimate. For the latter sources, we confirm a BL Lac classification, with a tentative redshift estimate for the source WISEJ100800.81+062121.2 of z = 0.65.
- OSTI ID:
- 22340261
- Journal Information:
- Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Vol. 147, Issue 5; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1538-3881
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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