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Description
Investigating the physical mechanisms driving the dynamical evolution of young star clusters is fundamental to our understanding of the star formation process and the properties of the Galactic field stars. The young (~2Myr) and partially embedded cluster Chamaeleon I is one of the closest laboratories to study the early stages of star cluster dynamics in a low-density environment. The aim of this work is to study the structural and kinematical properties of this cluster combining parameters from the high-resolution spectroscopic observations of the Gaia-ESO Survey with data from the literature. Our main result is the evidence of a large discrepancy between the velocity dispersion ({sigma}_stars_=1.14+/-0.35km/s) of the stellar population and the dispersion of the pre-stellar cores (~0.3km/s) derived from submillimeter observations. The origin of this discrepancy, which has been observed in other young star clusters is not clear. It has been suggested that it may be due to either the effect of the magnetic field on the protostars and the filaments, or to the dynamical evolution of stars driven by two-body interactions. Furthermore, the analysis of the kinematic properties of the stellar population put in evidence a significant velocity shift (~1~km/s) between the two sub-clusters located around the North and South main clouds of the cluster. This result further supports a scenario, where clusters form from the evolution of multiple substructures rather than from a monolithic collapse.Using three independent spectroscopic indicators (the gravity indicator {gamma}, the equivalent width of the Li line at 6708{AA}, and the H{alpha} 10% width), we performed a new membership selection. We found six new cluster members all located in the outer region of the cluster, proving that Chamaeleon I is probably more extended than previously thought. Starting from the positions and masses of the cluster members, we derived the level of substructure Q, the surface density {Sigma} and the level of mass segregation {Lambda}_MSR_ of the cluster. The comparison between these structural properties and the results of N-body simulations suggests that the cluster formed in a low density environment, in virial equilibrium or supervirial, and highly substructured.
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