We have found Herbig Ae/Be star candidates in the western region of the Magellanic Bridge .
Using the near infrared camera SIRIUS and the 1.4 m telescope IRSF , we surveyed \sim 3 \fdg 0 \times 1 \fdg 3 ( 24 \arcdeg \lesssim \alpha \lesssim 36 \arcdeg , -75 \fdg 0 \lesssim \delta \lesssim - 73 \fdg 7 ) in the J,H , and K _ { S } bands .
On the basis of colors and magnitudes , about 200 Herbig Ae/Be star candidates are selected .
Considering the contaminations by miscellaneous sources such as foreground stars and early-type dwarfs in the Magellanic Bridge , we estimate that about 80 ( \approx 40 % ) of the candidates are likely to be Herbig Ae/Be stars .
We also found one concentration of the candidates at the young star cluster NGC 796 , strongly suggesting the existence of pre-main-sequence ( PMS ) stars in the Magellanic Bridge .
This is the first detection of PMS star candidates in the Magellanic Bridge , and if they are genuine PMS stars , this could be direct evidence of recent star formation .
However , the estimate of the number of Herbig Ae/Be stars depends on the fraction of classical Be stars , and thus a more precise determination of the Be star fraction or observations to differentiate between the Herbig Ae/Be stars and classical Be stars are required .