Early stage massive star formation near the Galactic Center: Sgr C

Abstract

We present near-infrared spectroscopy and 1 mm line and continuum observations of a recently identified site of high mass star formation likely to be located in the Central Molecular Zone near Sgr C. Located on the outskirts of the massive evolved HII region associated with Sgr C, the area is characterized by an Extended Green Object measuring ~10" in size (0.4 pc), whose observational characteristics suggest the presence of an embedded massive protostar driving an outflow. Our data confirm that early-stage star formation is taking place on the periphery of the Sgr C HII region, with detections of two protostellar cores and several knots of H2 and Brackett gamma emission alongside a previously detected compact radio source. We calculate the cores' joint mass to be ~10^3 Msun, with column densities of 1-2 x 10^24 cm-2. We show the host molecular cloud to hold ~10^5 Msun of gas and dust with temperatures and column densities favourable for massive star formation to occur, however, there is no evidence of star formation outside of the EGO, indicating that the cloud is predominantly quiescent. Given its mass, density, and temperature, the cloud is comparable to other remarkable non-star-forming clouds such as G0.253 in the Eastern CMZ.

7 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

References in corpus (12)

• Trigonometric Parallaxes of Massive Star Forming Regions: VI. Galactic Structure, Fundamental Parameters and Non-Circular Motions
• A Catalog of Extended Green Objects (EGOs) in the GLIMPSE Survey: A new sample of massive young stellar object outflow candidates
• Variations in the Galactic star formation rate and density thresholds for star formation
• ATLASGAL - Compact source catalogue: 330 < l < 21 degrees
• A Class I and Class II Methanol Maser Survey of Extended Green Objects (EGOs) from the GLIMPSE Survey
• Star Formation in the Central 400 pc of the Milky Way: Evidence for a Population of Massive YSOs
• The linewidth-size relationship in the dense ISM of the Central Molecular Zone
• The Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey IV: 1.1 and 0.35 mm Dust Continuum Emission in the Galactic Center Region
• The Galactic Center Cloud G0.253+0.016: A Massive Dense Cloud with low Star Formation Potential
• A multi-wavelength view of the Galactic center dust ridge reveals little star formation
• A Water Maser and Ammonia Survey of GLIMPSE Extended Green Objects (EGOs)
• High-Mass Star Formation in the Near and Far 3-KPC Arms

Cited by in corpus (29)

• The dynamical evolution of molecular clouds near the Galactic Centre - I. Orbital structure and evolutionary timeline
• Molecular gas kinematics within the central 250 pc of the Milky Way
• The Galactic Center Molecular Cloud Survey. I. A Steep Linewidth-Size Relation & Suppression of Star Formation
• 'The Brick' is not a brick: A comprehensive study of the structure and dynamics of the Central Molecular Zone cloud G0.253+0.016
• Distributed star formation throughout the Galactic Center cloud Sgr B2
• The Survey of Water and Ammonia in the Galactic Center (SWAG): Molecular Cloud Evolution in the Central Molecular Zone
• The dynamics and star-forming potential of the massive Galactic centre cloud G0.253+0.016
• CMZoom: Survey Overview and First Data Release
• Star Formation Rates of Massive Molecular Clouds in the Central Molecular Zone
• A Census of Early Phase High-Mass Star Formation in the Central Molecular Zone
• Diffuse X-Ray Sky in the Galactic Center
• High-mass star-forming cloud G0.38+0.04 in the Galactic Center Dust Ridge contains H2CO and SiO masers
• ALMA Observations of Massive Clouds in the Central Molecular Zone: Ubiquitous Protostellar Outflows
• A massive Keplerian protostellar disk with flyby-induced spirals in the Central Molecular Zone
• Constraining the population of isolated massive stars within the Central Molecular Zone
• Prospects of 3D mapping of the Galactic Centre clouds with X-ray polarimetry
• Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph Observations of the Galactic Center: Quantifying the Extreme Ultraviolet/so ft X-ray fluxes
• SOFIA/FORCAST Galactic Center Legacy Survey: Overview
• SOFIA/HAWC+ Far-Infrared Polarimetric Large-Area CMZ Exploration (FIREPLACE) Survey III: Full Survey Data Set
• Towards a three-dimensional distribution of the molecular clouds in the Galactic Centre
• Early-stage star forming cloud cores in GLIMPSE Extended Green Objects (EGOs) as traced by organic species
• Surveying the Giant HII Regions of the Milky Way with SOFIA: IV. Sgr D, W42, and a Reassessment of the Giant HII Region Census
• Dual-band Unified Exploration of Three CMZ Clouds (DUET). Cloud-wide census of continuum sources showing low spectral indices
• The JWST-NIRCam View of Sagittarius C. II. Evidence for Magnetically Dominated HII Regions in the CMZ
• SOFIA/HAWC+ Far-Infrared Polarimetric Large Area CMZ Exploration Survey. V. The Magnetic Field Strength and Morphology in the Sagittarius C Complex
• The JWST-NIRCam View of Sagittarius C. III. The Extinction Curve
• Deeply Embedded Protostellar Population in the Central Molecular Zone Suggested by H${}_2$O Masers and Dense Cores
• The Chemistry and Kinematics of Two Molecular Clouds near Sagittarius A*
• Star Formation in the Galactic Center