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