- I. Physics Institute, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Straße 77, 50937 Cologne & Max-Planck Insitute for Radio Astronomy, Auf dem Hügel 60, 53121 Bonn
- I. Physics Institute, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 77, 50937 Cologne
- I. Physics Institute, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 77, 50937 Cologne
- I. Physics Institute, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 77, 50937 Cologne
- I. Physics Institute, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 77, 50937 Cologne
- I. Physics Institute, University of Cologne Zülpicher Str. 77, 50937 Cologne
- I. Physics Institute, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 77, 50937 Cologne
Galactic Ecology (GEco) is one of the science programs of CCAT, aiming to study the cosmic cycling of matter. Using the CCAT Heterodyne Array Instrument (CHAI), we will obtain spectra with very high spectral resolution, enabling us to study the chemical composition and dynamics of interstellar gas. Key questions include how molecular clouds and dense structures form and evolve, how stellar feedback impacts the evolution of the interstellar medium, how turbulence is driven in interstellar clouds, and how these processes depend on the environment. We are active and leading members of this science team. Many of us are also members of the FEEDBACK (Schneider et al. 2020) and HyGAL (Jacob et al. 2022) Legacy Program of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) , which provide excellent complementary datasets.