The Dynamics of the Galactic Bar
Abstract
Description
I selectively review the various dynamical scenarios that have been explored to date, especially those that illustrate the conundrums. In short, although the existence of asymmetries are convincing enough, the interpretation remains ambiguous. A coherent picture for the Milky Way asymmetries is an obvious lack; each mechanism is considered independently of all others. With this motivation, I will present a nonstandard picture which has the potential to explain some of the signatures and a few of the conundrums. Moreover, it illustrates global features are dynamically connected and I believe that it is time to revisit the Milky Way in this context. Finally, I will end with a wish list for future work---both observational and theoretical---designed to help us pin down the Milky Way.
12 pages, uuencoded gz-compressed postscript with figures Invited talk to appear in "Barred Galaxies", IAU Colloquium 157, edited by Buta et al
12 pages, uuencoded gz-compressed postscript with figures Invited talk to appear in "Barred Galaxies", IAU Colloquium 157, edited by Buta et al