SYSTEMATIC SEARCH FOR X-RAY COUNTERPARTS OF FERMI-LAT UNASSOCIATED SOURCES USING SWIFT: NEW BLAZARS, PULSARS, AND MORE

MOTIVATED BY THE RECENT RELEASE OF THE 3FHL CATALOG AND THE CONTINUED NEED TO IDENTIFY MANY UNASSOCIATED 3FGL SOURCES WE PROPOSE TO USE SWIFT TO CONTINUE THE PREVIOUSLY SUCCESSFUL GI PROGRAM TO SEARCH FOR X-RAY AND UV/OPTICAL COUNTERPARTS OF UNASSOCIATED FERMI GAMMA-RAY SOURCES WHICH ARE LIKELY TO BE DOMINATED BY NEW GAMMA-RAY BLAZARS AND WHICH MAY ALSO HARBOR NEW EXCITING SOURCE CLASSES. PREVIOUS PROGRAMS LED TO SWIFT OBSERVATIONS OF 261 AND 199 FERMI-LAT UNASSOCIATED SOURCES FROM THE 1FGL AND 2FGL CATALOGS RESPECTIVELY AS WELL AS 385 OBSERVATIONS OF 3FGL UNASSOCIATED SOURCES. POSSIBLE X-RAY COUNTERPARTS ARE FOUND IN 1/3 OF THESE OBSERVATIONS. THIS PROPOSED PROGRAM WOULD CONTINUE THIS EFFORT BY: (1) CONTINUING THE 3FGL SOURCE OBSERVATIONS WITH ANOTHER 154 SWIFT OBSERVATIONS OF 3FGL UNASSOCIATED SOURCE FIELDS AND (2) ADDING 71 SWIFT OBSERVATIONS OF THE EXCITING HIGH ENERGY UNASSOCIATED SOURCES FROM THE FERMI 3FHL CATALOG AND (3) PLACING ANALYZED DATA PRODUCTS ON A PUBLIC WEB PAGE WITHIN HOURS OF THE OBSERVATIONS. THIS ANALYSIS WILL DETERMINE THE BASIC PROPERTIES OF ALL DETECTED X-RAY SOURCES WITHIN THE FERMI-LAT LOCALIZATION REGIONS. IN PARTICULAR SWIFT-XRT WILL OBTAIN ACCURATE SOURCE POSITIONS (