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S.E. Healey, R.W. Romani, P.F. Michelson, D. Sowards-Emmerd (Stanford), J. Ulvestad (NRAO)
The high-latitude EGRET sources were clearly associated with flat spectrum blazars. GLAST is expected to detect many thousands of these sources, with 2000-3000 bright enough for detailed variability and spectral studies. However, only ~1000 spectroscopically characterized blazars are known, and many of these are X-ray bright BL Lacs unlike the EGRET sources. We have identified a nearly uniform all-sky sample of ~2500 gamma-ray blazar candidates dominated by powerful flat spectrum radio quasars and are pursuing spectroscopic confirmation of these sources in preparation for the 2007 GLAST launch. We report here on the sample selection, give a progress report on the spectroscopic identifications and note some unusual objects discovered in the survey. We comment on the power of this sample to probe blazar demographics and, through EBL gamma-ray absorption, the epoch of star formation.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.