  Centaurs are small bodies orbiting in the giant planet region which were
scattered inwards from their source populations beyond Neptune. Some members of
the population display comet-like activity during their transition through the
solar system, the source of which is not well understood. The range of
heliocentric distances where the active Centaurs have been observed, and their
median lifetime in the region suggest this activity is neither driven by
water-ice sublimation, nor entirely by super-volatiles.
  Here we present an observational and thermo-dynamical study of 13 Centaurs
discovered in the Pan-STARRS1 detection database aimed at identifying and
characterizing active objects beyond the orbit of Jupiter. We find no evidence
of activity associated with any of our targets at the time of their
observations with the Gemini North telescope in 2017 and 2018, or in archival
data from 2013 to 2019. Upper limits on the possible volatile and dust
production rates from our targets are 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than
production rates in some known comets, and are in agreement with values
measured for other inactive Centaurs.
  Our numerical integrations show that the orbits of six of our targets evolved
interior to r$\sim$15 AU over the past 100,000 years where several possible
processes could trigger sublimation and outgassing, but their apparent
inactivity indicates their dust production is either below our detection limit
or that the objects are dormant. Only one Centaur in our sample -- 2014
PQ$_{70}$ experienced a sudden decrease in semi-major axis and perihelion
distance attributed to the onset of activity for some previously known inactive
Centaurs, and therefore is a likely candidate for future outburst. This object
should be a target of interest for further observational monitoring.
