Bright active galactic nuclei source list from the first three months of the Fermi large area telescope all-sky survey

Abstract

The first three months of sky-survey operation with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope reveal 132 bright sources at |b| > 10° with test statistic greater than 100 (corresponding to about 10σ). Two methods, based on the CGRaBS, CRATES, and BZCat catalogs, indicate high-confidence associations of 106 of these sources with known active galactic nuclei (AGNs). This sample is referred to as the LAT Bright AGN Sample (LBAS). It contains two radio galaxies, namely, Centaurus A and NGC 1275, and 104 blazars consisting of 58 flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), 42 BL Lac objects, and 4 blazars with unknown classification. Four new blazars were discovered on the basis of the LAT detections. Remarkably, the LBAS includes 10 high-energy-peaked BL Lacs (HBLs), sources which were previously difficult to detect in the GeV range. Another 10 lower-confidence associations are found. Only 33 of the sources, plus two at |b| < 10°, were previously detected with Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope(EGRET), probably due to variability. The analysis of the γ-ray properties of the LBAS sources reveals that the average GeV spectra of BL Lac objects are significantly harder than the spectra of FSRQs. No significant correlation between radio and peak γ-ray fluxes is observed. Blazar log N-log S distributions and luminosity functions are constructed to investigate the evolution of the different blazar classes, with positive evolution indicated for FSRQs but none for BL Lacs. The contribution of LAT blazars to the total extragalactic γ-ray intensity is estimated. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society.