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Abstract

Star clusters which are about to or have finished the process of star formation are commonly found still immersed in their natal gas clouds. This coexistence is known as embedded star clusters. During this state, the stars are continuously injecting energy to the surrounding gas due to feedback processes such as ultraviolet radiation and massive stellar winds from OB stars, or supernovae explosions which will eventually remove the natal gas. The bare star clusters expand, which in most cases, can lead to their complete dissolution. Observations and simulations agree about the strong effect that gas gravitational potential removal produces on the dynamics of the stars. However, recent observations of massive young bound star clusters challenge the idea that most embedded star clusters do not overcome the gas expulsion phase. In this thesis, we study the outcome of the interaction between stars and gas for different star cluster masses. By means of N-body simulations we explore several combinations of initial conditions. We let the simulated star clusters evolve until the moment when all the gas has been pushed away. We characterise the star remnants either by quantifying them by the bound fraction or by comparing their radial expansion with destroyed star clusters.