3MOLINOS - A 3 millimetre MOLecular INventory of Old Stars

It is important to study the details of the chemistry for all types of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in order to fully understand the synthesis of new elements and the return of pro- cessed material to the ISM. For this purpose it is necessary to detect emission from molecules from the near infrared (IR) to mm wavelengths. The Mopra telescope provides a unique opportunity to match unprecedented observations in the near-IR and sub-mm with, e.g., Herschel with observations at mm wavelengths. We therefore propose to use the MOPS spectrograph on Mopra for a study of the circumstellar line emission between 85 and 93 GHz towards 15 evolved stars. We will probe the line emission from approx. 16 different molecules, incl. isotopologues and ions, hence creating an extensive catalogue of molecules in evolved stars. The sample of sources covers AGB stars of all chemical types, as well as supergiants and post-AGB objects, giving a full census of molecules in old stars. This will allow us to set constraints on the nucleosynthesis inside the star, the mixing mechanism in the stellar envelope, as well as significantly improve our understanding of the circumstellar physics and chemistry.