VLA observations of the Central Molecular Zone

The continuum observation is complete to free-free emission from stars above 10-11M_{sun}_ in 91% of the covered area. We identify 104 compact sources in the continuum emission, among which five are confirmed ultracompact HII regions, 12 are candidates of ultracompact HII regions, and the remaining 87 sources are mostly massive stars in clusters, field stars, evolved stars, pulsars, extragalactic sources, or of unknown nature that is to be investigated.

We detect class II CH_3_OH masers at 23 positions, among which six are new detections. We confirm six known H_2_CO masers in two high-mass star-forming regions and detect two new H_2_CO masers toward the Sgr C cloud, making it the ninth region in the Galaxy that contains masers of this type. In spite of these detections, we find that current high-mass star formation in the inner CMZ is only taking place in seven isolated clouds.