EVIDENCE FOR A SIGNATURE OF THE GALACTIC BAR IN THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD

Using available kinematical data for a subsample of NLTT stars from th e HIPPARCOS mission we confirm the existence of a previously reported local anomaly in the (u, v) plane: the mean motion u for old disc star s, with v < -30 kms(-1), is largely positive (+19 +/- 9 km s(-1) w.r.t . the Galactic Center). With the use of the newest global self-consist ent numerical models of our Galaxy (Fux 1997), we show that a bar coul d be responsible for this observed velocity anomaly. A fraction of our stars have bar perturbed ''hot'' orbits, allowing them to erratically wander from inside the bar to regions outside the corotation, in part icular through the solar neighbourhood.