Age Dating the Galactic Bar with the Nuclear Stellar Disc
  From the decades of the theoretical studies, it is well known that the
formation of the bar triggers the gas funnelling into the central sub-kpc
region and leads to the formation of a kinematically cold nuclear stellar disc
(NSD). We demonstrate that this mechanism can be used to identify the formation
epoch of the Galactic bar, using an N-body/hydrodynamics simulation of an
isolated Milky Way-like galaxy. As shown in many previous literature, our
simulation shows that the bar formation triggers an intense star formation for
~1 Gyr in the central region, and forms a NSD. As a result, the oldest age
limit of the NSD is relatively sharp, and the oldest population becomes similar
to the age of the bar. Therefore, the age distribution of the NSD tells us the
formation epoch of the bar. We discuss that a major challenge in measuring the
age distribution of the NSD in the Milky Way is contamination from other
non-negligible stellar components in the central region, such as a classical
bulge component. We demonstrate that because the NSD is kinematically colder
than the other stellar populations in the Galactic central region, the NSD
population can be kinematically distinguished from the other stellar
populations, if the 3D velocity of tracer stars are accurately measured. Hence,
in addition to the line-of-sight velocities from spectroscopic surveys, the
accurate measurements of the transverse velocities of stars are necessary, and
hence the near-infrared space astrometry mission, JASMINE, would play a crutial
role to identify the formation epoch of the Galactic bar. We also discuss that
the accuracy of stellar age estimation is also crucial to measure the oldest
limit of the NSD stellar population.
