Initial (top) and final (bottom) pericenters and eccentricities for a subsample of model stars. (Note the different x scales in the two panels.) The top panel shows all stars, independently of when they are deposited in the Galactic center. The bottom panel shows the 71 model stars surviving to the present day with K ≤ 18 and a ≤ 0.05 pc. Early (late) stars are shown in purple (red). Model stars initially have high eccentricities and evolve toward lower ones. For comparison, we show the observed S stars in the bottom panel using blue squares for early- type stars and orange circles for late-type stars. The upper boundary of the zone of avoidance from Burkert et al. (2024) is shown as a solid gray line. The dashed gray line shows an adjusted zone of avoidance so that all S stars are outside it.