Deep near-IR images from the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea ( VVV ) Survey were used to search for RR Lyrae stars in the Southern Galactic plane .
A sizable sample of 404 RR Lyrae of type ab stars were identified across a thin slice of the 4 ^ { th } Galactic quadrant ( 295 \degr < \ell < 350 \degr , -2.24 \degr < b < -1.05 \degr ) .
The sample ’ s distance distribution exhibits a maximum density that occurs at the bulge tangent point , which implies that this primarily Oosterhoff type I population of RRab stars does not trace the bar delineated by their red clump counterparts .
The bulge RR Lyrae population does not extend beyond \ell \sim 340 \degr , and the sample ’ s spatial distribution presents evidence of density enhancements and substructure that warrants further investigation .
Indeed , the sample may be employed to evaluate Galactic evolution models , and is particularly lucrative since half of the discovered RR Lyrae are within reach of Gaia astrometric observations .