M-GIANT KINEMATICS IN OFF-AXIS FIELDS BETWEEN 150 AND 300 PARSECS FROM THE GALACTIC CENTER

We present radial velocities for approximately 40 stars in each of three optically obscured, off-axis fields toward the Galactic bulge. Combined with the data presented by Blum et al. (1994), we now have mean radial velocities and radial velocity dispersions in four fields toward the Galactic bulge. These four fields lie nearly along an axis whose position angle from the major axis of the Galaxy is 55 degrees. The observed kinematics generally match both Rent's (1992) axisymmetric and Zhao's (1994) barred dynamical model predictions, but are marginally better described by the latter. The velocity dispersion in our innermost field is high: 153 +/- 17 km s(-1). Our data, combined with that from previous studies at larger radii, suggest that the stellar velocity dispersion is flat or still rising at projected radius R less than or similar to 150 pc.