Large Magellanic Cloud bar: evidence of a warped bar

Abstract

The geometry of the LMC bar is studied using the dereddened mean magnitudes of the red clump stars (I₀) from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment II catalog. The value of I₀ is found to vary in the east-west direction such that both the east and the west end of the bar are closer to us with respect to the center of the bar. The maximum observed variation has a statistical significance of more than 7.6 σ with respect to the maximum value of random error. The variation in I₀ indicates the presence of warp in the bar of the LMC. The warp and the structures seen in the bar indicate that the bar could be a dynamically disturbed structure.