The Galactic bar and the large scale velocity gradients in the Galactic
  disk
  Aims: We investigate whether the cylindrical (galactocentric) radial velocity
gradient of ~ -3 km/s/kpc, directed radially from the Galactic center and
recently observed in the stars of the solar neighborhood with the RAVE survey,
can be explained by the resonant effects of the bar near the solar
neighborhood.
  Methods: We compared the results of test particle simulations of the Milky
Way with a potential that includes a rotating bar with observations from the
RAVE survey. To this end we applied the RAVE selection function to the
simulations and convolved these with the characteristic RAVE errors. We
explored different "solar neighborhoods" in the simulations, as well as
different bar models
  Results: We find that the bar induces a negative radial velocity gradient at
every height from the Galactic plane, outside the outer Lindblad resonance and
for angles from the long axis of the bar compatible with the current estimates.
The selection function and errors do not wash away the gradient, but often make
it steeper, especially near the Galactic plane, because this is where the RAVE
survey is less radially extended. No gradient in the vertical velocity
ispresent in our simulations, from which we may conclude that this cannot be
induced by the bar.
