A New Method for Determining the Milky Way Bar Pattern Speed
  Previous work has related the Galactic bar to structure in the local stellar
velocity distribution. Here we show that the bar also influences the spatial
gradients of the velocity vector via the Oort constants. By numerical
integration of test-particles we simulate measurements of the Oort C value in a
gravitational potential including the Galactic bar. We account for the observed
trend that C is increasingly negative for stars with higher velocity
dispersion. By comparing measurements of C with our simulations we improve on
previous models of the bar, estimating that the bar pattern speed is
Omega_b/Omega_0=1.87\pm0.04, where Omega_0 is the local circular frequency, and
the bar angle lies within 20[deg]<phi_0<45[deg]. We find that the Galactic bar
affects measurements of the Oort constants A and B less than ~2 km/s/kpc for
the hot stars.
