Star formation rates on global and cloud scales within the Galactic Centre

TL;DR

This paper investigates why star formation rates in the Galactic Centre's Central Molecular Zone are lower than expected, despite high gas densities, by analyzing environmental factors and model predictions.

Contribution

It examines the discrepancy between observed star formation and theoretical models in the Galactic Centre's dense environment.

Findings

Current models under-predict star formation in the CMZ

Environmental factors may suppress star formation

The dense gas reservoir does not directly translate to high star formation rates

Abstract

The environment within the inner few hundred parsecs of the Milky Way, known as the "Central Molecular Zone" (CMZ), harbours densities and pressures orders of magnitude higher than the Galactic Disc; akin to that at the peak of cosmic star formation (Kruijssen & Longmore 2013). Previous studies have shown that current theoretical star-formation models under-predict the observed level of star-formation (SF) in the CMZ by an order of magnitude given the large reservoir of dense gas it contains. Here we explore potential reasons for this apparent dearth of star formation activity.