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

I explore the hypothesis that many of the unusual aspects of the apparent stellar bar of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) 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.