Dusty Cradles in a Turbulent Nursery: The Sgr A East H II Region Complex at the Galactic Center

We present imaging at 19, 25, 31, and 37 mu m of the compact H II region complex G-0.02-0.07 located 6 pc in projection from the center of the Galaxy obtained with SOFIA using FORCAST. G-0.02-0.07 contains three compact H II regions (A, B, and C) and one ultra-compact H II region (D). Our observations reveal the presence of two faint, infrared sources located 23 " and 35 " to the east of region C (FIRS 1 and 2) and detect dust emission in two of the three "ridges" of ionized gas west of region A. The 19/37 color temperature and 37 mu m optical depth maps of regions A-C are used to characterize the dust energetics and morphology. Regions A and B exhibit average 19/37 color temperatures of similar to 105 K, and regions C and D exhibit color temperatures of similar to 115K and similar to 130 K, respectively. Using the DustEM code, we model the SEDs of regions A-D and FIRS 1, all of which require populations of very small, transiently heated grains and large, equilibrium-heated grains. We also require the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in regions A-C in order to fit the 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 mu m fluxes observed by Spitzer/IRAC. The location of the heating source for region A is determined by triangulation from distances and temperatures derived from DustEM models fit to SEDs of three different points around the region, and it is found to be displaced to the northeast of the center of curvature near the color temperature peak. Based on total luminosity, expected 1.90 mu m fluxes, and proximity to the mid-IR color temperature peaks, we identify heating source candidates for regions A, B, and C. However, for region D, the observed fluxes at 1.87 and 1.90 mu m of the previously proposed ionizing star are a factor of similar to 40 times too bright to be the heating source and hence is likely just a star lying along the line of sight toward region D.