SOFIA follow-ups of massive clumps from the ATLASGAL galactic plane survey

With the GREAT receiver at the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) we started a concerted observing effort towards a well selected sample of clumps with high masses covering a range of evolutionary stages based on their infrared properties. The sources were selected from the ATLASGAL sub-millimeter dust continuum survey of our Galaxy. The goal is threefold: (i) SOFIA/GREAT allows to study the cooling budget of the clumps, in particular with observations of the CII and OI cooling lines. (ii) With SOFIA/GREAT high-J CO lines can be observed to measure in combination with ground based data the CO SEDs of the sources. (iii) Using rotational transitions of ammonia at THz frequencies the kinematics of the clumps can be probed with absorption spectroscopy to search for infall. Here we will describe these efforts and in particular report new results from the ammonia 32+-22- (1.8 THz) observing program. © 2016 EAS, EDP Sciences.