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Description
We present a catalog of radio-loud candidate {gamma}-ray emitting blazars with WISE mid-infrared colors similar to the colors of confirmed {gamma}-ray blazars. The catalog is assembled from WISE sources detected in all four WISE filters, with colors compatible with the three-dimensional locus of the WISE {gamma}-ray emitting blazars, and which can be spatially cross-matched with radio sources from one of the three radio surveys: NVSS, FIRST, and/or SUMSS. Our initial WISE selection uses a slightly modified version of previously successful algorithms. We then select only the radio-loud sources using a measure of the radio-to-IR flux, the q_22_parameter, which is analogous to the q_24_ parameter known in the literature but which instead uses the WISE band-four flux at 22{mu}m. Our final catalog contains 7855 sources classified as BL Lacs, FSRQs, or mixed candidate blazars; 1295 of these sources can be spatially re-associated as confirmed blazars. We describe the properties of the final catalog of WISE blazar-like radio-loud sources and consider possible contaminants. Finally, we discuss why this large catalog of candidate {gamma}-ray emitting blazars represents a new and useful resource to address the problem of finding low-energy counterparts to currently unidentified high-energy sources.
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