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Recent observational programmes are providing a global view of the Milky Way bulge that serves as template for detailed comparison with models and extragalactic bulges. A number of surveys (i.e. VVV, GIBS, GES, ARGOS, BRAVA, APOGEE) are producing comprehensive and detailed extinction, metallicity, kinematics and stellar density maps of the Galactic bulge with unprecedented accuracy. However, the still missing key ingredient is the distribution of stellar ages across the bulge. To overcome this limitation, we aim to age-date the stellar population in several bulge fields with the ultimate goal of deriving an age map of the Bulge. This paper presents the methodology and the first results obtained for a field along the Bulge minor axis, at $b=-6^circ$. We use a new PSF-fitting photometry of the VISTA Variables in the V{i}a L{a}ctea (VVV) survey data to construct deep color-magnitude diagrams of the bulge stellar population down to $sim$ 2 mag below the Main Sequence turnoff. We find the bulk of the bulge stellar population in the observed field along the minor axis to be at least older than $sim$ 7.5 Gyr. In particular, when the metallicity distribution function spectroscopically derived by GIBS is used, the best fit to the data is obtained with a combination of synthetic populations with ages in between $sim$ 7.5 Gyr and 11 Gyr. However, the fraction of stars younger than $sim$ 10 Gyr strongly depends upon the number of Blue Straggler Stars present in the bulge. Simulations show that the observed color-magnitude diagram of the bulge in the field along the minor axis is incompatible with the presence of a conspicuous population of intermediate-age/young (i.e. $lesssim 5$ Gyr) stars.
The detailed study of the Galactic bulge stellar population necessarily requires an accurate representation of the interstellar extinction particularly toward the Galactic plane and center, where the severe and differential reddening is expected to v
We present stellar age distributions of the Milky Way (MW) bulge region using ages for $sim$6,000 high-luminosity ($log(g) < 2.0$), metal-rich ($rm [Fe/H] ge -0.5$) bulge stars observed by the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (A
Recent wide-area surveys have enabled us to study the Milky Way with unprecedented detail. Its inner regions, hidden behind dust and gas, have been partially unveiled with the arrival of near-IR photometric and spectroscopic datasets. Among recent di
We present the first stellar density profile of the Milky Way bulge reaching latitude $b=0^circ$. It is derived by counting red clump stars within the colour--magnitude diagram constructed with the new PSF-fitting photometry from VISTA Variables in t
We analyzed the distribution of the RC stars throughout Galactic bulge using 2MASS data. We mapped the position of the red clump in 1 sq.deg. size fields within the area |l|<=8.5deg and $3.5deg<=|b|<=8.5deg, for a total of 170 sq.deg. The red clump s