Discovery of a GeV blazar shining through the Galactic plane

Abstract

The \emph{Fermi} Large Area Telescope (LAT) discovered a new gamma-ray source near the Galactic plane, \object{Fermi J0109+6134}, when it flared brightly in 2010 February. The low Galactic latitude (b =-1.2\degr) indicated that the source could be located within the Galaxy, which motivated rapid multi-wavelength follow-up including radio, optical, and X-ray observations. We report the results of analyzing all 19 months of LAT data for the source, and of X-ray observations with both \emph{Swift} and the \emph{Chandra X-ray Observatory}. We determined the source redshift, z =0.783, using a Keck LRIS observation. Finally, we compiled a broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) from both historical and new observations contemporaneous with the 2010 February flare. The redshift, SED, optical line width, X-ray absorption, and multi-band variability indicate that this new GeV source is a blazar seen through the Galactic plane. Because several of the optical emission lines have equivalent width >5Å, this blazar belongs in the flat-spectrum radio quasar category.

arXiv comment9 pages, 4 figures

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• Refining the associations of the Fermi Large Area Telescope Source Catalogs
• Discovery of a new TeV gamma-ray source: VER J0521+211
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• MOJAVE XVI: Multi-Epoch Linear Polarization Properties of Parsec-Scale AGN Jet Cores
• VERITAS Observations of the Nova in V407 Cygni
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