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1 Introduction

OH/SiO masers from late-type stars are proven to be a powerful tool to investigate the stellar motions in optically obscured regions of the Galaxy (for example, [Lindqvist et al. 1992]). Large surveys have been made for OH 1612 MHz sources in the galactic disk ([te Lintel-Hekkert et al. 1991]; [Chengalur et al. 1993]; []; [Sevenster et al. 1997]), and for SiO sources in the galactic bulge ([Izumiura et al. 1995b]) and in the anticenter direction ([Jiang et al. 1996]). These observations cover all the area in the Galaxy, while optical spectroscopic methods can glimpse stars in the narrow optical windows ([Zhao et al. 1994]). It is well established that the middle velocity of the OH 1612 MHz double peaks gives a stellar velocity where they are emitted from the approaching and receding parts of the circumstellar shell. The radial velocity of SiO maser emission from a late-type star usually falls at the middle of OH 1612 MHz double peaks, giving the radial velocity of the central star within a few accuracy ([Jewell et al. 1991];[Jiang et al. 1995]) .

It has been suggested that the bulge of our Galaxy is bar-like ([Blitz & Spergel 1991]; [Nakada et al. 1991]). A number of observations, including the COBE diffuse infrared background experiment (DIRBE; [Dwek et al. 1995]), the star counts ([Weinberg 1992]; [Hammersley et al. 1994]; [Unavane & Gilmore 1998]), and gravitational microlensing experiments ([Paczynski et al. 1994]; [Alcock et al. 1997]), have shown that the direction of elongation of the bar is by approximately 10-30 degree from the Sun-Galactic center line. However, it is not clear whether or not the bar structure does extend to the galactic disk ([Freudenreich 1998]), or whether any dynamical signatures of the bar potential do appear on the stellar motions in the disk ([Weinberg 1994]). Izumiura et al. (1995b) found that several forbidden regions (holes) appear in the longitude-velocity diagram of a sample of color-selected IRAS sources toward the bulge. They explained that these holes appear as a result of streaming motions of stars in the bar-like bulge.

In order to investigate the kinematics of stars in the inner disk of the Galaxy in detail, we started a new SiO maser survey of the color-selected IRAS sources in the Galactic disk in the area, -10<l<30 and |b|<3. The selected IRAS sources in this survey are dust-enshrouded objects with dust temperature of about 300 K, and most of the sources are late-type stars with high mass loss.

Recent efforts to build the 3D self-consistent N-body model of the Galaxy successfully simulated the spiral motion of the HI and CO gases, though observational data of the stars (OH/IR sources) were marginally be incorporated ([Sellwood 1993]; [Fux 1997];[Gerhard al. 1997]). This paper provides basic data of radial velocities of stars with distances between 2 to 12 kpc from the sun in the direction of the near end of the bar. The results are compared with the model calculations.



next up previous
Next: 2 Observations Up: Stellar Kinematics in the Previous: Stellar Kinematics in the



Jun Makino
Wed Mar 17 17:53:42 JST 1999