The Gaia-ESO Survey: metallicity of the Chamaeleon I star forming region

TL;DR

This study uses Gaia-ESO Survey data to determine that the Chamaeleon I star-forming region has a slightly subsolar metallicity, supporting the idea that young nearby star-forming regions are generally metal-poor compared to the Sun.

Contribution

First homogeneous metallicity measurement of Chamaeleon I using Gaia-ESO data, confirming its slightly subsolar metallicity and contributing to understanding of local star formation chemistry.

Findings

Chamaeleon I has a mean [Fe/H] of -0.08 dex.

Young star-forming regions are generally more metal-poor than the Sun.

Results align with metallicity patterns of other nearby regions.

Abstract

Context. Recent metallicity determinations in young open clusters and star-forming regions suggest that the latter may be characterized by a slightly lower metallicity than the Sun and older clusters in the solar vicinity. However, these results are based on small statistics and inhomogeneous analyses. The Gaia-ESO Survey is observing and homogeneously analyzing large samples of stars in several young clusters and star-forming regions, hence allowing us to further investigate this issue. Aims. We present a new metallicity determination of the Chamaeleon I star-forming region, based on the products distributed in the first internal release of the Gaia-ESO Survey. Methods. 48 candidate members of Chamaeleon I have been observed with the high-resolution spectrograph UVES. We use the surface gravity, lithium line equivalent width and position in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram to confirm the cluster members and we use the iron abundance to derive the mean metallicity of the region. Results. Out of the 48 targets, we confirm 15 high probability members. Considering the metallicity measurements for 9 of them, we find that the iron abundance of Chamaeleon I is slightly subsolar with a mean value [Fe/H]=-0.08+/-0.04 dex. This result is in agreement with the metallicity determination of other nearby star-forming regions and suggests that the chemical pattern of the youngest stars in the solar neighborhood is indeed more metal-poor than the Sun. We argue that this evidence may be related to the chemical distribution of the Gould Belt that contains most of the nearby star-forming regions and young clusters.