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DISCOVERY OF MASSIVE YOUNG STELLAR OBJECTS IN THE GALACTIC CENTER WITH WARM CO₂ GAS ABSORPTION.

DEOKKEUN AN, SOLANGE RAMIREZ, IPAC/CALTECH; KRIS SELLGREN, OHIO STATE U.; ADWIN BOOGERT, CALTECH; RICHARD ARENDT, NASA/GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER; ANGELA COTERA, SETI INSTITUTE; THOMAS ROBITAILLE, ST. ANDREWS U., UK; MATHIAS SCHULTHEIS, OBS. BESANCON, FRANCE; HOWARD A. SMITH, HARVARD-SMITHSONIAN CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICS; SUSAN STOLOVY, SPITZER SCIENCE CENTER, CALTECH.

We report the detection of several molecular gas-phase and ice absorption features in three photometrically-selected young stellar object (YSOs) candidates in the central 280~pc of the Milky Way. Our spectra, obtained with the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope , reveal gas-phase absorption from CO₂ (15.0 µm), C₂H₂ (13.7 µm) and HCN (14.0 µm). We attribute this absorption to warm, dense gas in the massive YSOs. We also detect strong and broad 15.2 µm CO₂ ice absorption features, with an absorption profile indicating the presence of thermally processed CO₂ ice. Our IRS observations demonstrate the youth of these objects, and provide the first spectroscopic identification of massive YSOs in the Galactic Center.