PECULIARITIES OF THE STELLAR POPULATION OF THE LMC BAR

The age distributions in the bar and disk of the Large Magellanic Clou d are studied using data for 262 clusters with known ages, of which 89 are located in the bar. The spatial distributions for clusters in dif ferent age groups are investigated. Epochs of active star formation ar e determined for the bar and disk of the LMC. The composition of the s tellar population in the bar differs from that for the galaxy as a who le: in the bar, there is a deficit of intermediate-age clusters (5 x 1 0(8)-6 x 10(9) years) and an excess of young clusters with ages 3 x 10 (7)-5 x 10(8) years. This indicates that the star formation history in the bar differs from that in regions outside the bar at the same dist ances from the center of the galaxy. Data on the composition of the ol d stellar populations in the bar and the disk of the LMC and the spati al distribution of intermediate-age clusters in the galaxy suggest tha t the LMC bar formed (2-6) x 10(9) years ago.