We study the luminosity function of intermediate-age red-clump stars using deep , near-infrared photometric data covering \sim 20 deg ^ { 2 } located throughout the central part of the Small Magellanic Cloud ( SMC ) , comprising the main body and the galaxy ’ s eastern wing , based on observations obtained with the VISTA Survey of the Magellanic Clouds ( VMC ) .
We identified regions which show a foreground population ( \sim 11.8 \pm 2.0 kpc in front of the main body ) in the form of a distance bimodality in the red-clump distribution .
The most likely explanation for the origin of this feature is tidal stripping from the SMC rather than the extended stellar haloes of the Magellanic Clouds and/or tidally stripped stars from the Large Magellanic Cloud .
The homogeneous and continuous VMC data trace this feature in the direction of the Magellanic Bridge and , particularly , identify ( for the first time ) the inner region ( \sim 2 – 2.5 kpc from the centre ) from where the signatures of interactions start becoming evident .
This result provides observational evidence of the formation of the Magellanic Bridge from tidally stripped material from the SMC .