Depletion of Bright Red Giants in the Galactic Center during Its Active Phases

Observations in the near-infrared domain showed the presence of the flat core of bright late-type stars inside ∼0.5 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 on the 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 γ-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_j ≈ 10⁴¹- ${10}^{44}\,\mathrm{erg}\,{{\rm{s}}}^{-1}$ within the inner ∼0.04 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 ≲1 mpc, and by the direct mechanical interaction of stars with a clumpy disk at ≳0.04 pc, which can explain the flat density profile of bright late-type stars inside the inner half parsec from Sgr A*.