4FGLzoo. Classifying Fermi-LAT uncertain gamma-ray sources by machine learning analysis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jheap.2020.11.002Get rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

Abstract

Since 2008 August the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has provided a continuous coverage of the gamma-ray sky yielding more than 5000 γ-ray sources, but 54% of the detected sources remain unidentified or with no certain association with a low energy counterpart. Rigorous determination of class type for a γ-ray source requires the optical spectrum of the correct counterpart but optical observations are demanding and time-consuming, then machine learning techniques can be a powerful alternative for screening and ranking. We use machine learning techniques to select blazar candidates among uncertain sources characterized by γ-ray properties very similar to those of Active Galactic Nuclei. Consequently, the percentage of sources of uncertain type drops from 54% to less than 12% predicting a new zoo for the Fermi γ-ray sources. The result of this study opens up new considerations on the population of the gamma energy sky, and it will facilitate the planning of significant samples for rigorous analysis and multi-wavelength observational campaigns.

Keywords

Active galaxy
Blazar
Neural network

Cited by (0)