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We present the first interferometric molecular line and dust emission maps for the Galactic Center (GC) cloud G0. 253+0. 016, observed using CARMA and the SMA. This cloud is very dense, and concentrates a mass exceeding the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex (2 × 10⁵ M_☉) into a radius of only 3 pc, but it is essentially starless. G0. 253+0. 016 therefore violates "star formation laws" presently used to explain trends in galactic and extragalactic star formation by a factor ~45. Our observations show a lack of dense cores of significant mass and density, thus explaining the low star formation activity. Instead, cores with low densities and line widths ≾1 km s^ (–1) —probably the narrowest lines reported for the GC region to date—are found. Evolution over several 10⁵ yr is needed before more massive cores, and possibly an Arches-like stellar cluster, could form. Given the disruptive dynamics of the GC region, and the potentially unbound nature of G0. 253+0. 016, it is not clear that this evolution will happen.
Kauffmann et al. (Fri,) studied this question.