The Cygnus Allscale Survey of Chemistry and Dynamical Environments (CASCADE)

Abstract

Over the last decades, high-mass star formation research has concentrated on either the large-scale molecular cloud environments or on the smallscale hot dense molecular cores surrounding massive proto-stars/clusters and young stellar objects. However, questions regarding the gas flow from large to small scales, and how the gas is transferred via intermediate-scale filaments and clumps have so far been largely neglected. With “Cygnus Allscale Survey of Chemistry and Dynamical Environments (CASCADE)”, a part of the Max Planck IRAM Observatory Program (MIOP), we want to overcome this missing gap via studying one well-known molecular cloud complex with the IRAM NOEMA and 30m facilities from small to large scales, thereby connecting these important physical processes. In the nearby (1.4 kpc) luminous Cygnus X region, recent and on-going star formation combine to present a rich Northern hemisphere laboratory in which star formation and feedback processes can be studied globally as well as locally. Using the new and unique 4 mm capabilities of NOEMA, together with the IRAM 30m telescope, the flow of gas from cloudto core-scales is being probed with observations of large mosaics covering the ground state lines of many molecules, including their deuterium substituted isotopologs, with the unique large bandwidth only possible with this facility. Here a brief introduction into the program, together with initials results, is presented.