2013ApJ...765L..35K

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 (2x10⁵ 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–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.