Mapping the chemistry of the interstellar medium Thomas Gerner Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Heidelberg, Germany
Understanding the chemical evolution of young (high-mass) star-forming regions is a central topic in star formation research. The chemistry serves twofold, on the one hand in a general sense to study the evolution from simple to complex molecules, and on the other hand as a tool to investigate the underlying physical processes. With these aims in mind, we observed a diverse sample of 60 high-mass star-forming regions in different evolutionary stages from the early starless stages of Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs) over High Mass Protostellar Objects (HMPOs) to Hot Molecular Cores (HMCs) and finally Ultra Compact HII (UCHII) regions. The new broadband receiver and backend capabilities of the IRAM 30m telescope allow us to cover broad spectral ranges with many molecular lines, and based on that to determine their large-scale chemical abundances. To set these results into context, we model the chemical evolution in such environments with state-of-the-art chemical networks. This enables us to put constraints on the chemical evolution in the early stages of high-mass star-forming regions, the age of the molecular clouds and the cosmic ionization rates.
Collaborators: H. Beuther, MPIA, Germany D. Semenov, MPIA, Germany