Awakening of Two Gamma-Ray High-redshift, Flat-spectrum Radio Quasars in the Southern Hemisphere

Abstract

Abstract High-redshift blazars are valuable tools to study the early universe. So far, only a handful of γ-ray blazars have been found at redshifts above 3. Gamma-ray signals are detected in the direction of PMN J2219–2719 (z = 3.63) and PMN J2321–0827 (z = 3.16) by analyzing the 10 yr Fermi-LAT Pass 8 data. PMN J2219–2719 is not distinguished from the background in the global analysis. During the 5 month epoch, the TS value is 47.8 and the flux is more than 10 times that of the 10 yr averaged flux. In addition, the angular distance between the γ-ray position and the radio position of PMN J2219–2719 is only 0.°04. Moreover, the long timescale γ-ray and infrared light curves are very similar, which supports the association between the γ-ray source and PMN J2219–2719. The global analysis of PMN J2321–0827 suggest a new γ-ray source; during the flare phase, the TS value is 61.4 and the γ-ray flux increased significantly. The association probability suggests that PMN J2321–0827 may be the counterpart of the new γ-ray source. In the future, the number of high-redshift γ-ray sources will increase by combining Fermi-LAT and the upcoming Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.