  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 about 3.0 deg x 1.3 deg (24 deg < RA < 36 deg, -75
deg < Dec. < -73.7 deg) in the J, H, and Ks 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 (about
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.
