"Discovery of 421 New Blazar Associations in Unidentified 4FGL Gamma-Ray Sources Through an Educational Engagement Program: The 1FLAT Catalog"

Abstract

Faint blazars are often difficult to identify, as their recognition typically requires cross-matching positional counterparts across radio, optical, and X-ray catalogs. To support high-energy studies for the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO), we adopted an alternative approach. Starting from the Fermi-LAT 4FGL-DR4 catalog (5,062 γ-ray sources at galactic latitude |b| > 10°), we searched for blazar counterparts using Firmamento*, a web-based platform developed within the Open Universe initiative of UNOOSA. Firmamento integrates multi-frequency data and high-level analysis tools for spectral energy distribution (SED) studies.

By combining automated algorithms with visual inspection and validation by experts, high-school, and undergraduate students — given the large size of the sample — we discovered 421 new blazar associations, reducing the fraction of unassociated Fermi-LAT sources from 25% to 17%. The resulting catalog, 1FLAT, has been published in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.

This talk presents both the scientific results and the educational framework behind this collaborative effort.