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We introduce a novel theoretical model to explain the long-standing puzzle ofthe nature of the microlensing events reported towards the Large MagellanicCloud (LMC) by the MACHO and OGLE collaborations. We propose that a populationof tidally stripped stars from the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) located ~4-10kpc behind a lensing population of LMC disk stars can naturally explain theobserved event durations (17-71 days), event frequencies and spatialdistribution of the reported events. Differences in the event frequenciesreported by the OGLE (~0.33 /yr) and MACHO (~1.75 /yr) surveys appear to benaturally accounted for by their different detection efficiencies andsensitivity to faint sources. The presented models of the Magellanic Systemwere constructed without prior consideration of the microlensing implications.These results favor a scenario for the interaction history of the MagellanicClouds, wherein the Clouds are on their first infall towards the Milky Way andthe SMC has recently collided with the LMC 100-300 Myr ago, leading to a largenumber of faint sources distributed non-uniformly behind the LMC disk. Incontrast to self-lensing models, microlensing events are also expected to occurin fields off the LMC's stellar bar since the stellar debris is not expected tobe concentrated in the bar region. This scenario leads to a number ofobservational tests: the sources are low-metallicity SMC stars, they exhibithigh velocities relative to LMC disk stars that may be detectable via propermotion studies, and, most notably, there should exist a stellar counterpart tothe gaseous Magellanic Stream and Bridge with a V-band surface brightness of >32 mag/arcsec^2. In particular, the stellar Bridge should contain enough RRLyrae stars to be detected by the ongoing OGLE survey of this region.

The Origin of the Microlensing Events Observed Towards the LMC and the Stellar Counterpart of the Magellanic Stream