  We study star formation in the Center Ridge 1 (CR1) clump in the Vela C giant
molecular cloud, selected as a high column density region that shows the lowest
level of dust continuum polarization angle dispersion, likely indicating that
the magnetic field is relatively strong. We observe the source with the ALMA
7m-array at 1.05~mm and 1.3~mm wavelengths, which enable measurements of dust
temperature, core mass and astrochemical deuteration. A relatively modest
number of eleven dense cores are identified via their dust continuum emission,
with masses spanning from 0.17 to 6.7 Msun. Overall CR1 has a relatively low
compact dense gas fraction compared with other typical clouds with similar
column densities, which may be a result of the strong magnetic field and/or the
very early evolutionary stage of this region. The deuteration ratios, Dfrac, of
the cores, measured with N2H+(3-2) and N2D+(3-2) lines, span from 0.011 to
0.85, with the latter being one of the highest values yet detected. The level
of deuteration appears to decrease with evolution from prestellar to
protostellar phase. A linear filament, running approximately parallel with the
large scale magnetic field orientation, is seen connecting the two most massive
cores, each having CO bipolar outflows aligned orthogonally to the filament.
The filament contains the most deuterated core, likely to be prestellar and
located midway between the protostars. The observations permit measurement of
the full deuteration structure of the filament along its length, which we
present. We also discuss the kinematics and dynamics of this structure, as well
as of the dense core population.
