The Galactic Center Cloud G0.253+0.016: A Massive Dense Cloud With Low Star Formation Potential

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 × 10^5 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 10^5 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.