Future Studies in Star and Planet Formation with HAWC+, GREAT and HIRMES

Star formation, the most fundamental process in the universe, is linked to planet formation and thus to the origin and evolution of life. We have a general outline of how planets and stars form, yet unraveling the details of the physics and chemistry continues to challenge us. The infrared and submillimeter part of the spectrum hold the most promise for studying the beginnings of star formation. The observational landscape recently shaped by Spitzer, Herschel and ALMA, continues to challenge our current theories. SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, equipped with state-of-the-art infrared instrumentation to a vantage point up to 45,000 feet (13.7 km) flight altitude that is above 99.9% of the Earth's water vapor, enables observations in the infrared through Terahertz frequencies not possible from the ground. Examples of future SOFIA science frontiers include: (1) Establishing the role of magnetic fields on sub-parsec scales in giant molecular clouds, and in filamentary star formation regions within, with 50-200 micron polarimetry, when combined with VLT/GTC, Planck, ALMA, and Herschel data, will provide a huge leap in our understanding of the role of magnetic fields on various size scales in our Galaxy. (2) Velocity resolved imaging spectroscopic surveys of massive star formation cloud complexes in the Milky Way in ionized carbon at 158 micron and other FIR emission lines to revolutionize our understanding of the role of environment and feedback in star formation and its link to galaxy evolution. (3) Studies of the fundamental ground-state transition of 112 micron HD and water (vapor and ice) in a survey of several protoplanetary disks to measure the mass of planet-forming matter in the Galaxy and push the planet-formation field forward.