The Case of the Off-Center, Levitating Bar in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Abstract

I explore the hypothesis that many of the unusual aspects of the apparent stellar bar of the Large Magellanic Cloud are the result of viewing a triaxial stellar bulge that is embedded in a highly obscuring thin disk. Specifically, this hypothesis explains the observed off-center position of the bar within the disk, the differing apparent distances of the bar and disk, the near alignment of the bar's major axis position angle and the disk's line-of-nodes, and the asymmetric appearance of the bar itself. Indirectly, it may also play a role in explaining the microlensing rate toward the LMC and the recently observed large velocity dispersion of RR Lyrae stars.