The bar pattern speed of the Large Magellanic Cloud

In the section Kinematic analysis of the Large Magellanic Cloud we presented the study of the internal kinematics of the different clean Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) samples of Gaia DR3 data. As a follow-up work, in Jiménez-Arranz+24a we used the internal kinematics maps of the LMC complete sample to determine the LMC bar pattern speed.

In the context of galactic dynamics, a barred spiral galaxy is characterized by the presence of a linear, elongated structure known as a bar, which extends from the galactic center. The bar, composed of stars, rotates as part of the overall galactic rotation. The bar pattern speed refers to the angular rotation speed Ω𝑝 of this central bar around the galactic nucleus. It is a fundamental parameter in the dynamics of galaxies from which the principal bar-disc resonances can be identified, and the structure of stellar orbits can be studied in a given gravitational potential.