Depletion of bright red giants in the Galactic center during its active phases

Abstract

Observations in the near-infrared domain showed the presence of the flat core of bright late-type stars inside $\sim 0.5\mathrm{pc}$ from the Galactic center supermassive black hole (Sgr A*), while young massive OB/Wolf-Rayet stars form a cusp. Several dynamical processes were proposed to explain this apparent paradox of the distribution of the Galactic center stellar populations. Given the mounting evidence about a significantly increased activity of Sgr A* during the past million years, we propose a scenario based on the interaction between the late-type giants and a nuclear jet, whose past existence and energetics can be inferred from the presence of $\gamma$-ray Fermi bubbles and bipolar radio bubbles. Extended, loose envelopes of red giant stars can be ablated by the jet with kinetic luminosity in the range of $L_{\mathrm{j}}\approx 10^{41}$-$10^{44}\mathrm{erg}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ within the inner $\sim 0.04\mathrm{pc}$ of Sgr A* (S cluster region), which would lead to their infrared luminosity decrease after several thousand jet-star interactions. The ablation of the atmospheres of red giants is complemented by the process of tidal stripping that operates at distances of $\lesssim 1\mathrm{mpc}$, and by the direct mechanical interaction of stars with a clumpy disc at $\gtrsim 0.04\mathrm{pc}$, which can explain the flat density profile of bright late-type stars inside the inner half parsec from Sgr A*.

arXiv comment24 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables; accepted for publication by the Astrophysical Journal

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