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Description
The chemical changes of high-mass star-forming regions provide a potential method for classifying their evolutionary stages and, ultimately, ages. In this study, we search for correlations between molecular abundances and the evolutionary stages of dense molecular clumps associated with high-mass star formation. We use the molecular line maps from Year 1 of the Millimetre Astronomy Legacy Team 90GHz (MALT90) Survey. The survey mapped several hundred individual star-forming clumps chosen from the ATLASGAL survey to span the complete range of evolution, from prestellar to protostellar to H II regions. The evolutionary stage of each clump is classified using the Spitzer GLIMPSE/MIPSGAL mid-IR surveys. Where possible, we determine the dust temperatures and H_2_ column densities for each clump from Herschel/Hi-GAL continuum data. From MALT90 data, we measure the integrated intensities of the N_2_H^+^, HCO^+^, HCN and HNC(1-0) lines, and derive the column densities and abundances of N_2_H^+^ and HCO^+^. The Herschel dust temperatures increase as a function of the IR-based Spitzer evolutionary classification scheme, with the youngest clumps being the coldest, which gives confidence that this classification method provides a reliable way to assign evolutionary stages to clumps. Both N_2_H^+^ and HCO^+^ abundances increase as a function of evolutionary stage, whereas the N_2_H^+^(1-0) to HCO^+^(1-0) integrated intensity ratios show no discernable trend. The HCN(1-0) to HNC(1-0) integrated intensity ratios show marginal evidence of an increase as the clumps evolve.
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