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# The Progenitor Masses of Wolf-Rayet Stars and Luminous Blue Variables Determined from Cluster Turn-offs. II. Results from 12 Galactic Clusters and OB Associations

## 1 Introduction

### 1.1 Background

Massive, luminous stars begin their H-burning lives as hot, O-type stars. During their main-sequence evolution (2.5–8 Myr for stars with initial masses of 120–20$`_{}`$) they may lose a significant amount of their mass due to strong stellar winds. The observed mass-loss rates suggest that the highest-mass stars will lose as much as half their mass during the H-burning stage. Since these winds are driven by radiation pressure through highly-ionized metal lines, the mass-loss rates will increase with stellar luminosity, metallicity, and effective temperature. It was Conti (1976) who first suggested that mass-loss provided a simple explanation for how Wolf-Rayet (W-R) stars form. In the modern version of the “Conti scenario” (Maeder & Conti 1994), this mass loss results in a stripping off of the H-rich outer layers of the star, resulting in a WN-type W-R star, in which the H-burning products (He and N) are enriched at the surface, with strong, broad emission lines indicative of enhanced stellar winds forming an extended atmosphere. Most WNs are presumed to be He-burning objects, although there is evidence that a few H-rich late-type WNs are still near the end of the core-H burning phase (Conti et al. 1995). Further mass-loss and evolution reveals the products of He-burning (C and O) at the surface, and the star is spectroscopically identified as a WC-type W-R.

Possibly the highest mass stars also go through a Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) stage on their way to becoming W-Rs, with the large, episodic mass loss that characterizes LBVs aiding the process. Stars of slightly lower luminosity (mass) will not have an LBV phase, but recent observations (Massey 1998a) suggest that they do go through an intermediate red supergiant (RSG) phase, even at high metallicities, albeit for a short time. At some lower luminosity one expects that the mass-loss rates are sufficient to produce a WN-type W-R, but not a WC. And, at even lower luminosities, mass-loss rates are so low that the He-burning stage is spent entirely as a red supergiant (RSG) and not as a W-R star.

In this version of the “Conti scenario” we thus might expect the following “paths” to be followed, in order of decreasing luminosities:

O$``$LBV$``$WN$``$WC (1)

O$``$RSG$``$WN$``$WC (2)

O$``$RSG$``$WN (3)

OB$``$RSG (4)

The masses corresponding to these paths are unknown (and indeed we are unsure even of the qualitative correctness of these paths), but “standard guesses” for characteristic values would be 1: $`80_{}`$, 2: $`60_{}`$, 3: $`40_{}`$, and 4: $`20_{}`$. We emphasize that these are purely speculative values, and that the actual ranges should depend upon metallicity. Indeed it is to address this issue that the present series of papers has come about.

Between the initial O-type stage (of luminosity class “V”) and the He-burning stage (LBVs, W-Rs, RSGs) the star will become a B-type supergiant; most, but not all, of these are expected to still be H-burning objects (Massey et al. 1995b). The luminous A-F supergiants are very short-lived intermediate stages during He-burning for stars of intermediate high-mass, depending upon the metallicity. The precursor to SN1987A is believed to have been a “second-generation” B-type supergiant, a He-burning object of somewhat lower mass than those being discussed here.

In addition to the question of whether or not the above paths are correct, and what masses to assign to each as a function of metallicity, we are also interested in the evolutionary significance, if any, to the Wolf-Rayet spectral subtypes. WN-type W-R stars are classified as “early” (WNE) or “late” (WNL) depending on whether NV $`\lambda \lambda 4602,19`$ or NIII $`\lambda \lambda 4634,42`$ dominates; e.g., WNEs correspond to numerical subtypes WN2, WN3, WN4, while WNLs consist of subtypes WN6, WN7, WN8, and WN9, with the WN5 stars split between the two groups. Similarly WC-type W-R stars are classified as WCE or WCL depending upon whether CIII $`\lambda 5696`$ dominates over CIV $`\lambda 5808`$; e.g., corresponding to spectral subtypes WC4 through WC6 and WC8-9, with some WC7s falling into each camp (Conti & Massey 1989). Do these subtypes mean anything in an evolutionary sense? Various authors have claimed so (see, for example, Moffat 1982), but this conjecture does not seem borne out by either observational or theoretical studies.

Our understanding of massive star evolution is limited, in part, because of the difficulty of constructing stellar models from first principles. The physics of massive stars is complicated by strong stellar winds, and the choice of the functional dependence of mass-loss rates on stellar parameters (luminosity, temperature, mass, and metallicity) greatly influences the theoretical tracks (e.g., Meynet et al. 1994), particularly in the later stages of evolution. In addition, the models are sensitive to the amount of mixing. However, there is little agreement on the treatment of the relevant processes of semi-convection and overshooting (Maeder & Conti 1994), while the most recent work has emphasized the significant role that rotation may play in this regard (Maeder 1997, 1999). Nevertheless, empirical studies of massive star evolution provide confidence that the above picture is correct, and are beginning to provide quantitative information on the mass ranges corresponding the various paths. These studies provide an observational basis against which the models can be evaluated and refined. (For a humorous rendering of this process, the reader is referred to Fig. 5 in Conti 1982.)

### 1.2 An Observational Approach

#### 1.2.1 Global Studies

The galaxies of the Local Group provide perfect laboratories for pursing these studies observationally, as the metallicity differs by almost an order of magnitude (SMC to M31) among the galaxies currently active in forming stars. During the past few years there have been a number of studies of mixed-age populations, the relative number of this and that. The implicit assumption of these studies are that the IMF slopes are identical and cover regions that provide a good sampling of stellar stages over time. The number ratios provide quantitative criterion for the models to attempt to match. These studies have found the following:

(1) The relative number of RSGs to W-Rs decreases with increasing metallicity (Massey 1998a; Massey & Johnson 1998). Histograms of the number of RSGs vs. luminosity reveal that there are proportionately fewer high luminosity RSGs at higher metallicity, while the lack of a sharp luminosity cut-off supports the interpretation that as $`Z`$ increases, massive stars spend a greater fraction of their He-burning phase as W-Rs, and a smaller fraction as RSGs, rather than there being a difference in the actual mass ranges that go through a RSG phase. This is why we indicated a RSG phase at high luminosities (path 2 above). Possibly even LBVs will go—or have gone—through a RSG phase, but this is unknown. We also do not know if massive stars go through a RSG phase at the highest metallicity: the relation between the RSG/W-R ratio and metallicity appears to flatten below the high metallicity that characterize M31, but only a few regions have been surveyed in that large galaxy, and more data are being gathered to resolve this.

(2) The relative number of WCs to WNs increases with increasing metallicity, with the notable exception of the star-burst galaxy IC 10 (Fig. 8 in Massey & Johnson 1998). This trend is also in accord with the predictions of the Conti scenario, as increased mass-loss makes it possible for a star of a given luminosity to reach the WC stage sooner, spending more of its W-R stage as a WC than a WN. (The explanation for IC10’s peculiarly high WC/WN ratio remains a mystery at present. See discussion in Massey & Johnson 1998.)

(3) Significant differences in the spectral subtypes found in the Magellanic Clouds compared to the Milky Way were noted by Smith (1968): no WCLs are found in the LMC or SMC, and most of the ones known in the Milky Way are found inwards of the solar circle. Similar differences are seen for the WNs. Armandroff & Massey (1991) showed that the WC line widths (which are correlated with spectral subclass) change systematically with metallicity, extending an important finding by Willis, Schild, & Smith (1992) to other galaxies of the Local Group. Massey (1996) proposed that the WC spectral subtypes are nothing more than an atmospheric effect due to metallicity. (See also Massey & Johnson 1998). Recently Crowther (2000) has demonstrated from W-R model atmospheres that the WN subtypes may similarly be a reflection of metallicity rather than other stellar parameters, at least in terms of WN3 through WN6.

#### 1.2.2 Coeval Associations

A more direct way exists to attack the problem of understanding massive star evolution. By using coeval associations that contain evolved, massive stars, we can in fact directly measure the mass ranges that correspond to the above evolutionary paths as a function of metallicity. This is the subject of the current series of papers.

In Paper I of this series (Massey, Waterhouse, & DeGioia-Eastwood 2000) we established that many Magellanic Cloud OB associations and young clusters are sufficiently coeval ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\tau <`$1 Myr) that we can measure a meaningful cluster turn-off mass; e.g., the mass of the most massive star on the main-sequence. These turn-off masses then place a lower-limit on the mass of the progenitors of the evolved stars in the cluster, to the extent that star-formation proceeded coevally. If the cluster is well populated, than the initial mass of the turn-off star is a good approximation to the initial mass of the progenitor of the W-R star. In addition, the bolometric luminosity of the cluster turn-off sets useful limits on the bolometric corrections for the evolved stars, allowing tests of Wolf-Rayet model atmospheres, such as Hillier’s “standard model” (Hillier 1987, 1990).

The results were quite revealing. In a study of 19 OB associations in the Magellanic Clouds, we found that at the low metallicities that characterize the SMC, only the highest-mass stars ($`>70_{}`$) become Wolf-Rayet stars, although the sample is small. This is equivalent to saying that path (3) above occurs only for $`M>70_{}`$ for $`Z0.005`$.111For convenience in talking about the metallicity $`Z`$, we adopt $`Z=0.018`$ for the solar neighborhood, corresponding to log O/H+12=8.70 (Estebam & Peimbert 1995). If we then simply scale $`Z`$ relative to the easily-measured oxygen abundance, $`Z=0.005`$ for the SMC (log O/H+12=8.13) and $`Z=0.008`$ for the LMC (log O/H=8.37), e.g., Russell & Dopita (1990). Although it is well recognized that different metals will have different relative abundances, it is fortuitous that it is oxygen (along with carbon and nitrogen) which are the primary accelerators of the stellar winds at the high effective temperatures appropriate to O-type stars (Abbott 1982). At the higher metallicity of the LMC ($`Z=0.008`$), WN W-R stars come from stars with masses as low as $`30_{}`$. We also found that WC stars are found in the same clusters as WNEs; e.g., the lowest turn-off mass found for a cluster containing WC stars was 45$`_{}`$, suggesting that stars with masses from 30–45$`_{}`$ might correspond to path (3), while stars with masses 45-85$`_{}`$ correspond to path (2).

The rare “Ofpe/WN9” stars222The stars may be rarer at higher metallicity than at low; ten are known in the LMC (Bohannan & Walborn 1989), while only one is known in the Milky Way (Bohannan & Crowther 1999). Six are known in M 33 (Massey et al. 1996), while one is known in the higher metallicity M 31 (Massey 1998b)., once thought to be a transition type between “Of” stars and Wolf-Rayet stars, are only found in clusters and associations with the lowest turn-off masses, 25-35$`_{}`$. Recently the Ofpe/WN9 stars were implicated in the LBV phase of massive stars, after one Ofpe/WN9 star (R127) underwent an “LBV-like” outburst. But, the classical LBVs in our LMC sample, including the archetype itself S Doradus, are found in clusters with the very highest turn-off masses, $`>85_{}`$. (Similarly the SMC W-R star HD 5980, which many consider to be a “true” LBV \[Barbá et al. 1995\] is found in a cluster with a very high turn-off mass.) We conclude that the Ofpe/WN9 stars are just the lowest-mass versions of Wolf-Rayet stars. True LBVs, on the other hand, are found only in the clusters with the highest mass turn-offs, suggesting that they are indeed stars near their Eddington limit and are a normal stage of the most massive stars.

Our study also shed light on the origin of the different W-R classes and subtypes, at least at the modest metallicity that characterizes the LMC. The early-type WN stars (WNEs) in the LMC are found in clusters with a large range of turn-off masses (from 30$`_{}`$ to 100$`_{}`$ or more), suggesting that these are a stage that most massive stars go through at LMC-like metallicities.

We turn now to the higher metallicity of our own Milky Way, and pose the question of where do LBVs and Wolf-Rayets of various types come from at a metallicity considerably higher than that of the Magellanic Clouds.

## 2 The Sample

Previous attempts to use Galactic OB associations and clusters to measure the progenitor masses of W-R stars have been made by Schild & Maeder (1984), Humphreys, Nichols & Massey (1985), and Vazquez & Feinstein (1990); Smith, Meynet, & Mermilliod (1994) also discuss the issue but primarily with an emphasis on using the data for bolometric corrections. These studies relied upon results from the literature and did not obtain new spectroscopy of the cluster stars. Our experience, even in nearby young clusters, is that many of the high mass stars have been overlooked.333For example, Massey & Thompson (1991) identified numerous O-type stars previously missed in Cyg OB2, including one as early as O4 III(f). Similarly spectroscopy by Hillenbrand et al. (1993) of NGC 6611 found stars that had been previously called “O4” were in fact of “B0 V” type (NGC 6611-188) in one case and “O5 V” in another (NGC 6611-205=HD168076), and provided modern spectral types for dozens of others. Massey & Johnson (1993) found another O3 If (Tr14/16-506) even in the well-studied $`\eta `$ Carinae region, and provided new spectral types for others. Table 3 of Massey, Johnson, & Eastwood (1995a) gives numerous other examples of newly discovered early-type O stars in nearby Galactic regions. Spectroscopy is of course critical for assigning location of hot stars accurately in the HRD, as emphasized in Paper I and elsewhere (e.g., Massey et al. 1995a, 1995b).

In this paper we draw upon the literature, but also obtain new spectroscopy for the regions where this is required. We note that few of these regions have modern photometry. This is largely irrelevant for our purposes, as discussed further in Section 2.2.2 below, but does affect any attempts to use the distances as probes of Galactic structure.

### 2.1 Selection

For our sample, we began with the lists of W-Rs believed to be likely members of clusters and associations given by Lundstrom & Stenholm (1984) and Schild & Maeder (1984). We eliminated the many regions that lacked UBV photometry (unfortunately this excludes many fine southern regions), were too big (NGC 2439, Vul OB2), or were too sparse (the “HD 155603 Group”). This left us with 12 associations for which we either obtained new spectroscopy, or adequate data existed in the recent literature. We list these regions in Table 1.

Two regions not listed in the table require special comment. First, we have excluded the region NGC 3603 from our study. NGC 3603 is the Milky Way’s answer to R136, in that this is a young (1-2 Myr), rich region that is so highly populated that the IMF extends up to very high masses. In both cases HST was needed for spatially resolving a single “WN+abs” star into multiple objects, and for obtaining spectra of the individual components. NGC 3603 contains several stars with WN6-like features, but whose individual luminosities are much higher than that of normal W-Rs of their type, and whose spectra show unmistakable evidence of hydrogen, also not in accord with their type. (This can be inferred from Fig. 2 in Drissen et al. 1995, although the significance at the the time was not apparent.) Massey & Hunter (1998) found the same thing in R136, and realized that these WN stars were simply “super Of” stars—core-H burning objects whose very large luminosities (corresponding to masses well above the 120$`_{}`$ limits of published evolutionary tracks) result in such strong stellar winds that their spectral appearance mimics that of Wolf-Rayet stars. (The same conclusion is reached by de Koter, Heap, & Hubeny 1997.) An excellent comparison between the NGC 3603 and R 136 objects is provided by Crowther & Dessart (1998). We ignore these objects here, primarily as we do not consider them true Wolf-Rayet stars.

We also call attention to the cluster NGC 6231 (the nucleus of the large Sco OB1 association), which contains two Wolf-Rayet stars, the WN7 star HD151932, and the WC7+O5-8 binary HD155720. Although the cluster has received recent photometric attention (Perry, Hill, & Christodoulou 1991; Sung, Bessell, & Lee 1998; Baume, Vazquez & Feinstein 1999), there is no modern spectroscopic study of this highly interesting region. Such a study would bolster or refute claims of large age spreads and peculiar mass functions in this cluster, as well as potentially providing additional information on the progenitor masses of Wolf-Rayet stars.

### 2.2 New Data: Spectral Types and Improved Distances and Reddenings

#### 2.2.1 Spectral Types: New Data and Classification

Owing to the recent study of a number of northern hemisphere OB young clusters and OB associations (Massey et al. 1995a and references therein), most of our new spectroscopy was obtained for stars in interesting southern OB associations. The majority of the new spectra were obtained on the CTIO 1.5-m telescope with the Loral 1K CCD (1200 $`\times `$ 800 pixels) spectrometer on 1998 Mar 19 (UT) with grating 47 in second order and a CuSO4 blocking filter. The dispersion was 0.56 Å pixel-1, and the 100 $`\mu `$m slit (1.8 arcsec) yielded a resolution of 1.5 Å (2.5 pixels) with coverage from 4035 Å to 4700 Å.

Data were also obtained from Kitt Peak telescopes of the northern clusters (Berkeley 87 and Ma 50), as well as critical data for some stars in the southern associations, admittedly at very low elevations. Most of these were obtained on the Mayall 4-m during 1998 Sept 11-14. The RC Spectrograph was used with the T2KB detector (2048$`\times `$ 2048 pixels), with grating KP-22 used in second order and a CuSO4 blocking filter. The dispersion was 0.72 Å pixel-1, and the 300 $`\mu `$m (2.0 arcsec) slit yielded a resolution of 1.8 Å (2.5 pixels), with coverage from 3750 Å to 5000 Å being in good focus.

A few data were also obtained on the Kitt Peak 2.1-m telescope 1998 July 19 and 21, and on 2000 Mar 17, using the “GoldCam” spectrometer with its Loral 3K x 1K CCD. Grating 47 was used in second order with a dispersion of 0.47 Å pixel-1, and the 250 $`\mu `$m (3 arcsec) slit provided a resolution of 1.9 Å (4 pixels). The wavelength coverage was 3800 Å to 4800 Å.

Thus in all cases the wavelength range covered the important classification lines Si IV $`\lambda 4089`$ to He II $`\lambda 4686`$, at resolutions of 1.5–1.9 Å.

Good flat-fielding was provided by exposures of an illuminated white spot. Wavelength calibration was by means of He-Ar (CTIO) or He-Ne-Ar (KPNO) lamps. The customary IRAF optimal-extraction routines were used. We usually achieved a S/N of 80 per spectral resolution element. We classified the stars based upon the criterion given in Walborn & Fitzpatrick (1990).

We list in Table 2 the brightest stars in each of these associations, including our new spectral types plus any from the literature. We have measured accurate coordinates from the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Digitized Sky Survey images, and include these in Table 2 to facilitate exact identification. We describe the most interesting spectra here.

##### Two Newly Discovered O3 Stars.

The “O3” class was introduced by Walborn (1971) as an extension of the MK classes to hotter effective temperatures. At modest resolution and signal-to-noise (S/N), the spectra show no He I lines, but rather strong He II. The class is clearly degenerate, as higher resolution and better S/N shows He I $`\lambda 4471`$ with equivalent widths as large as 120-250 mÅ in some stars (Kudritizki 1980; Simon et al. 1983), and less than 75 mÅ in others (i.e., Paper I). Since the O3 class represents the hottest class, all members are of high mass, and stars of type O3 III and O3 I must be of extremely high mass. Such stars are correspondingly rare, with only five possible examples in the Milky Way (e.g., the four mentioned by Walborn 1994 plus one other possible example discovered by Massey & Johnson 1993 in Tr 14/16).

Thus, our discovery here of two additional such stars, both in the poorly studied cluster Pis 24 (Sec. 2.3.6) is of some interest. We illustrate the spectra of these two stars, Pis24-1 and Pis24-17 in Fig. 5. In the case of HDE 319718=Pis24-1, we do detect He I $`\lambda 4471`$ with an equivalent width of 85 mÅ, comparable to that seen in the most extreme of Carina stars which originally defined the class. Pis24-1 is clearly of type O3 If\*: the “f” as both N III $`\lambda \lambda 4634,42`$ and He II $`\lambda 4686`$ are seen in emission, and the “\*” signifying N IV $`\lambda 4058`$ emission stronger than N III. Both features are luminosity indicators, thus resulting in the “I” luminosity class. Note also the strong N V $`\lambda \lambda 4603,19`$ absorption, which also appears to be stronger in O3 stars of high luminosity, although one might expect there is also a strong temperature dependence for this line, which is not seen in O4 stars, except at high luminosities. The star had been previously classified as “O4(f)” by Lorret, Testor, & Niemela (1984), although in fact Vijapurkar & Drilling (1993) had suggested an “O3 III” designation.

In the case of Pis24-17, we do not detect He I. We would argue that its luminosity class is intermediate between “III” and “I”: on the one hand, He II $`\lambda 4686`$ is strongly in absorption while N III is in emission, suggesting an O3 III(f\*) classification, given that the N IV emission is comparable in strength to that of N III. However, there is incredibly strong N V absorption, which would argue either for higher luminosity (or higher effective temperature?). Rather than attempt to introduce a II(f\*) into the nomenclature, we classify the star as O3 III(f\*). We are indebted to Nolan Walborn for his insightful comments on this spectrum. This star was labeled ”N35B” by Lortet et al. (1984), and classified as O4-5 V. Doubtless the strong nebular He I $`\lambda 4471`$ emission disguised the O3 nature of this and Pis24-1 on their photographic spectra.

##### Other Early O-type Supergiants.

We show in Fig. 5 a few of our other early O-type supergiants. The spectra here can be compared to those illustrated in Walborn & Fitzpatrick (1990). These spectra, and the new types listed in Table 2, emphasize the need for modern spectroscopic studies of early-type stars even within modest distances of the Sun.

#### 2.2.2 Reddenings and Distances

In order to locate the stars in the H-R diagram and assign masses, we need to know their luminosities; for this, we need to know their distances and reddenings.

We have photometry (from the literature), and good spectral types (mostly new), for only the brightest dozen or so stars in each cluster (e.g., Table 2), with the exception of the clusters previously studied in order to determine their initial mass function. Main-sequence fitting is of little use when dealing with stars this hot, as color information (even in the absence of reddening) provides little information about effective temperature. Instead, we derive distances and reddenings through the spectral types, adopting the absolute magnitude calibration discussed in Paper I, as well as the same intrinsic color calibration.

For each star with a spectral type in Table 2, we computed the reddening and true distance modulus, and then eliminated any obvious outliers. Discrepant distances can be due either to misclassification by a luminosity class (relatively easy for the early B stars) or non-membership; multiplicity must also play an occasional role. The results are given in Table 1, along with the other data on the clusters. We have also included an estimate of the size of the region. In general, the determination of the distance moduli is good to 0.1 mag444It is worth noting that our method of deriving the distances and reddenings makes our results completely independent of any zero-point errors in the photometry, either in $`V`$ or even in $`BV`$. For instance, imagine that the published photometry was in error by 0.1 mag in $`V`$ ($`V_{\mathrm{true}}=V_{\mathrm{published}}+0.1`$) and by +0.1 mag in $`BV`$ ($`(BV)_{\mathrm{true}}=(BV)_{\mathrm{published}}+0.1`$). The extinction correction $`A_V=3.2\times E(BV)`$ will be underestimated by 0.32 mag, and the $`V_o`$ we compute will be too large by 0.22 mag, and our value for the distance modulus too small by 0.22 mag. However, when we go to use this incorrect distance modulus with the rest of the photometry, for which we do not have spectral types, it exactly compensates for the systematic photometric errors, reproducing the correct values for $`M_V`$ and $`(BV)_o`$. This is of course because we determined the distance modulus and reddening that caused us to match the correct (adopted) $`M_V`$ and $`(BV)_o`$ based upon the spectral type. In a reductio ad absurdum the $`V`$ magnitudes could be off by 10 mag, and the $`BV`$ values off by 1 mag, and although our distance moduli would be ridiculous, we would nevertheless be able to construct accurate H-R diagrams, as long as the relative $`V`$ magnitudes and relative $`BV`$ values, are correct. It is easy to extend this argument to $`UB`$ and the color-free index $`q_r=E(UB)/E(BV)`$, that we will in fact use. In practice, errors in the published photometry probably include color terms as well. Redoing the photometry for the clusters using modern CCD techniques would be well worthwhile, but primarily for improving our knowledge of Galactic structure—refinements in the distance moduli and actual reddenings will have little effect on our H-R diagrams..

### 2.3 Discussion of Individual Clusters

#### 2.3.1 Ruprecht 44 (C0757$``$284)

The Ru 44 cluster has been described by Moffat & FitzGerald (1974), FitzGerald & Moffat (1976), Havlen (1976), and Turner (1981); see also McCarthy & Miller (1974). The cluster is a condensation in the Pup OB2 association. The WN4.5 star WR10 (HD 65865=MR 11) is listed by Moffat & FitzGerald as a member, although it lies well outside the central part of the cluster. (The “core” as shown in Fig. 1 of Moffat & FitzGerald has a radius of 6.4 arcmin; the W-R star lies 14 arcmin to the SE of its center.) Distance estimates have ranged from the large values of Moffat & FitzGerald (1974) and FitzGerald & Moffat (1976) who proposed distance moduli of 14.1–14.2 mag (6.6–6.8 kpc), to the smaller value of 13.2 mag (4.3 kpc) found by Havlen (1976). The most recent and complete study is that of Turner (1981), who finds a distance modulus of 13.3 mag (4.7 kpc) from main-sequence fitting, in accord with the H$`\beta `$ value of Havlen.

Many of the existing spectral types in the cluster are listed by Moffat & FitzGerald (1974) and Turner (1981) as uncertain, and we obtained new spectral information for eight stars. We find that the stars described as O-type are generally no earlier than B-type; for instance the star LSS 909 described as “O6:e” by Moffat & FitzGerald, and revised to “O8” by Turner, is actually a B1 V according to our CCD spectroscopy, and is likely a foreground object. (It was included as one of the outlying possible members by Turner.) Similarly, the star LSS 899 (Ru44-182) was classified by Moffat & FitzGerald (1974) as “O8 V”, but subsequently reclassified as B0 V by Reed & FitzGerald (1983). On the other hand, the star LSS 891 (Ru44-183) was called “O9.5” by FitzGerald & Moffat (1976) is actually an O8 III(f) according to our spectroscopy, similar to the O8 V classification by Reed & FitzGerald (1983). Our derived distance modulus of 13.35 mag is in excellent accord with that found by Turner (1981).

#### 2.3.2 Collinder 228 (C1041$``$597)

Cr 228 is just south of the $`\eta `$ Carinae clusters Tr 14 and Tr 16, and Cr 232; see Figure 1 in Massey & Johnson (1993). An excellent spectroscopic study of this region was conducted by Walborn (1973a, 1982). In constructing our list of members, we began with the UBV photometry of Feinstein, Marraco, & Forte (1976). (The photometry of HD 93146 comes from Turner & Moffat 1980.) Spectral types are from Walborn (1973a, 1982), as well as Levato & Malaroda (1981), with a few additional types from Tapia et al. (1988) based upon unspecified sources. To this we add our own 16 new spectral types, mostly of stars with previous spectroscopy; the agreement between different sources is generally very good. We eliminate stars thought to be non-members based on spectra or color, as indicated by Tapia et al. We also ignore the plethora of stars with late-B or early-A dwarf spectral types in determining the distance modulus or constructing the HRD. The resulting true distance modulus is 12.45 mag (3.1 kpc) and the average color excess $`E(BV)=0.37`$. (Our apparent distance modulus, 13.6 mag, is identical with that found by Tapia et al. but the true distance modulus is somewhat greater since they derive a higher average reddening for Cr 228 based upon calculating $`E(BV)`$ from their measured $`E(VK)`$ values.) Our distance modulus would place the cluster at essentially the same distance as the rest of the $`\eta `$ Car complex; see Massey & Johnson 1993). A few of the stars have luminosity classes or reddenings inconsistent with the adopted distance, but the corrections are minor and probably all of these stars with spectral types are members. The W-R member is WR24, of type WN7.

#### 2.3.3 Trumpler 14/16

The LBV star $`\eta `$ Carinae is part of the Tr 14/16 complex, as is the W-R star HD 93162=WR25 (WN7+abs). Massey & Johnson (1993) provide a modern CCD study of this region, including spectroscopy of many of the brightest blue stars, concluding that Tr 14 and Tr 16 were at the identical distance and were coeval. A comprehensive study of the fainter members is given by DeGioia-Eastwood et al. (2001), who study several background fields in order to recognize pre-mainsequence objects in the HRD.

#### 2.3.4 Pismis 20 (C1511$``$588)

The only previous photometry of Pismis 20 is the photographic study by Moffat & Vogt (1973). WR67=HD 134877=Pis 20-8 (WN6) is nearly 2 arcmin from the central core of the cluster, which is heavily concentrated in a region roughly 1 arcminute in diameter. We derive a distance modulus of 12.7 mag (3.5 kpc) for the cluster, and an average reddening of E(B-V)=1.1, with little scatter. The reddening of WR67 given by Conti & Vacca (1990) is identical with this value, and we find $`M_v=5.1`$, consistent with that expected for a WN6 star (Table II of Conti & Vacca 1990). We conclude WR67 is a member. Van der Hucht et al. (1981) also list WR66 as a possible member, but its location some 46 arcminutes south of the cluster makes this extremely unlikely.

#### 2.3.5 C1715$``$387

The cluster was studied by Havlen & Moffat (1977), who identified 15 members and 9 non-members from their photoelectric UBV photometry. The cluster appears to contain two Wolf-Rayet stars, WR89 (=LSS 4065=C1715$``$387-1), of type WN7555Walborn & Fitzpatrick (2000) recently classified this star as “WN8-A”. After N. Walborn kindly called the matter to our attention, we re-examined our own higher S/N of this star, and we find we are in accord with the WN7 classification given by van der Hucht et al. (1981). One may compare the Walborn & Fitzpatrick (2000) spectrum to that of the spectrum WN8 “standard” HD 177230 show by Massey & Conti (1980). We would argue that the WN7 classification of LSS 4065 is slightly preferred over WN8 given the lack of He I P Cygni (and general weakness of the He I emission), plus the relative intensity of N III $`\lambda \lambda 4634,42`$ emission relative to He II $`\lambda 4686`$.  and WR87(=LSS 4064=C1715$``$387-3), also of type WN7. Their spectroscopy identified several early-type O stars, including two early-O type supergiants: star 2 (=LSS 4067), an O4 If, and 6, an O5 If, both of which we confirm. They derive a distance modulus of $`12.6\pm 0.3`$ mag (3.3 kpc) via main-sequence fitting and $`12.0\pm 0.3`$ mag (2.5 kpc) via spectroscopic parallax, adopting a compromise $`12.3\pm 0.3`$ mag \[sic\] (2.9 kpc). Thé, Arens, & van der Hucht (1982) obtained Walraven-system photoelectric photometry of these plus additional members, and conclude that the distance modulus cannot be determined with any certainty from the photometry alone.

We have obtained spectra for 5 of the stars, all of which are of O-type, ranging from O4 If to O9.5 III. Four out of the five stars have nearly identical reddenings, with $`E(BV)=1.85\pm 0.03`$; the O9.5 III has a smaller value, $`E(BV)=1.65`$. The reddening is peculiar towards C1715$``$387, or else there is a significant zero-point problem in one (or both) of the colors given by Havlen & Moffat (1977). A value of $`q_r`$=0.83 is suggested for most of the stars, but a value nearer the canonical 0.72 is indicated by the less-reddened O9.5 III star.

If we take only the two O dwarfs, we find a distance modulus of 12.0 mag; the distances of the supergiants are consistent with this, although they would nominally suggest a distance modulus of 12.2 mag. We adopt a distance modulus of 12.0 mag (2.5 kpc), identical to value obtained by Havlen & Moffat (1977) using the same data but with less complete spectroscopic data.

Thé et al. (1982) suggested that one of the stars, (their No. 35) is an M-type supergiant with rather low absolute luminosity ($`M_{bol}=6.3`$, adjusted for our closer distance modulus), where the BC was adopted apparently assuming that the star is M0. If so, the star cannot be coeval with the rest of the cluster, given the HR diagrams we derive subsequently. We note that there is no spectroscopy of this star, only photometry, and the star could simply be a foreground dwarf. Or, if the star is a late-type M supergiant, then its bolometric luminosity might be a couple of magnitudes more negative.

#### 2.3.6 Pismis 24 (C1722$``$343)

Moffat & Vogt (1973) obtained photometry of 15 stars, 12 of which they concluded are members. We obtained spectroscopy of 11 stars, 4 of which were not included in their list. We find that two of the cluster stars are of type O3, one of which is a supergiant (HDE 319718=Pis 24-1) and the other appears to be a giant (what we now call Pis 24-17); these stars were discussed in Section 2.2.1. Most of the rest are found to be of O-type, although we do reach B dwarfs. Thus this is a highly interesting cluster, and additional photometry and spectroscopy are highly warranted.

For HDE 319718 we note that the $`V=10.01`$ photometry given by Crampton (1971) is at variance with the $`V=10.43`$ photometry of Moffat & Vogt (1973) by 0.4 mag. Additionally, there are 0.1 mag differences in the colors. Lortet et al. (1984) describe this star as “O4(f)” and state that the radial velocity changed by 94 km s-1 during a few days, so possibly the light variation was real. However, there is also photoelectric photometry by Neckel (1978). His value of $`V=10.27`$ is probably consistent with Moffat & Vogt (1973), as Neckel used a large aperture that would have included some of the companion stars; see discussion in Lortet et al. (1984).

The cluster is associated with the nebula NGC 6357, a large shell with “several roundish nebulae” (Lortet et al. 1984). The brightest of these is near Pis 24.

In order to provide V and B-V photometry for the four additional stars, we obtained images in B and V with the WIYN 3.5-m on 1998 Sept 29. The field of view was 6.7 arcmin on a side with a scale of 0.2”/pixel. At airmasses in excess of 3, the image quality was poor, about 2.6”. We obtained photometry differentially relative to the stars with photoelectric photometry by Moffat & Vogt (1973). The 1$`\sigma `$ scatter from 5 stars was 0.03. We refer to the four new stars as 16-19; all four are located near star HDE 319718, with a pair 15” to the east, and a pair 15” to the north. The pair to the east we label 16 (NW of pair) and 17 (SE of pair). The pair to the north we label 18 (W of pair) and 19 (E of pair). These stars are clearly visible in Fig 4a of Lortet et al. (1984); our star Pis 24-17 is the one they label “N35B”, and classified as O4-5 V, although our better sky-subtracted spectrum reveals it is of O3 III(f\*) type (Sect. 2.2.1).

If we use the ten stars with certain luminosity classes to compute the spectroscopic parallax, we find a distance modulus of $`12.03\pm 0.14`$ (s.d.m.) mag. If we use only the six O dwarfs to derive the distance, we compute $`11.99\pm 0.05`$ (s.d.m.) mag. We adopt a true distance modulus of 12.0 mag (2.5 kpc), somewhat further than the 1.7 kpc suggested by Neckel (1978) and Lortet et al. (1984).

The cluster contains the Wolf-Rayet star HD 157504 (WR93), of type WC7. Such late-type WC stars are unknown in the Magellanic Clouds, and are found primarily inwards of the sun in the Milky Way. Conti & Vacca (1990) describe this star as a “WCE+abs” and derive a distance of 1.1 kpc, considerably closer than then 2.5 kpc we find for the cluster. This includes a very large correction ($`A_V=5.9`$ mag) for interstellar extinction. The star is located 4 arcminutes west of the central cluster, which is otherwise extended over 5 arcminutes NS, but 1-2 arcminutes EW. However, it is not clear what photometry over a larger field would reveal: at this distance 5 arcmin corresponds to 4 pc, while stellar drifts over 1 Myr would extend to 10 pc at 10 km s-1. Thus the cluster might well be larger than indicated. We consider HD 157504 a likely member of Pis 24.

#### 2.3.7 Trumpler 27 (C1732$``$334)

Thé & Stokes (1970) studied the cluster by means of photoelectrically calibrated photographic UBV photometry, identifying many highly reddened early-type stars, and deriving a true distance modulus of 10.2 mag (1.1 kpc) based upon main-sequence fitting. Moffat, FitzGerald, & Jackson (1977) obtained photoelectric UBV data and some objective prism (and a few slit) spectral types; they derive a distance modulus of $`11.7\pm 0.2`$ mag (2.1 kpc) based upon spectroscopic parallax. We note here that the difference between the photographic and photoelectric V magnitudes shows a strong magnitude dependence, and that there are significant color terms between the photographic and photoelectric B-V values, which partially explains the difference in the derived distances. Baker & Thé (1983) used the Walraven photometric system to determine a distance modulus of 11.2 mag (1.7 kpc), citing the poorly known absolute magnitude calibration for supergiants to explain the difference between theirs and Moffat et al’s results.

We have new spectral types for twelve OB stars, eight of which are in common with previous slit spectroscopy by Moffat et al. (1977). Unfortunately, all but one of these are giants and supergiants, which intrinsically exhibit a large range in $`M_V`$. For instance, a B0 I could easily range from $`M_V=6`$ to $`7`$ (Humphreys & McElroy 1984). Our spectroscopy suggests a distance modulus of $`12.0\pm 0.3`$ mag (2.5 kpc), slightly greater than the Moffat et al. value. The region is ripe for a CCD study and spectroscopy that reaches the dwarfs.

The cluster contains two Wolf-Rayet stars, WR95 (=Tr 27-28) of type WC9, and WR98 (=MR 76=Tr 27-105) of type WC7/WN6. Conti & Vacca (1990) infer their distances as 2.8 kpc and 2.4 kpc, respectively, consistent with the distance we find from spectroscopic parallax of the OB stars. The region also contains two other evolved stars: Tr28-1 is of type M0 Ia (Imhoff & Keenan 1976), and Tr28-102 is of type G0 Ia (Moffat et al. 1977). Dereddening the stars using the intrinsic colors of FitzGerald (1970), we find absolute visual magnitudes of $`7.9`$ and $`6.9`$. The former is consistent with an extreme M-type supergiant; Imhoff & Keenan (1976) estimate the star’s absolute magnitude as $`7.2\pm 0.5`$ from coude spectroscopy of luminosity-sensitive features. The $`M_V`$ expected from a “G0 Ia” star is $`7.5`$ (cf. Humphreys & McElroy 1984), although G supergiants cover a 5 mag range in luminosity depending upon whether the “a” could be a “b” or not! We conclude that a value $`(mM)_o=12.0`$ is consistent with both the W-Rs and the two other supergiants as being members.

The data here suggest a significant age spread for the cluster. The G0 Ia star falls near the 10 Myr isochrone, and the two B8I stars classified have ages of 6 Myr, considerably older than the 2-4 Myr age suggested by the rest of the stars.

We suggest that this apparent “age spread” is due to the difficulty of separating real cluster members from background objects. For instance, the two early B-type stars Tr27-44 and Tr27-107 both have absolute visual magnitudes corresponding to giants rather than supergiants if we assume they are indeed cluster members. However, their spectra both indicate an extremely high luminosity class (Ia), with a rich assortment of strong, narrow metal lines. We believe these two stars are actually background objects, suggesting that other apparent cluster members may be unassociated with the cluster instead. We include these two stars in the HRD, as their implied masses are too low to affect our judgment of the W-R progenitor masses.

#### 2.3.8 NGC 6871 (C2004+356)

The long-period (119 day) Wolf-Rayet binary HD190918 (WN4.5+O9 Ia) is part of the large NGC 6871 complex. The region was included in Massey et al. (1995a). No brightness ratio of the O9 Ia to WN4.5 star has been published; however, even a casual inspection of the spectrum suggests that the O9 Ia star dominates the continuum. For the purposes of including the O9Ia star in the HRD, we make the very conservative assumption that the light of the two components contributes equally; however, even in the extreme case that we assign all of the light to the O9Ia star, this component is not the most massive present in the cluster.

We note that the cluster also contains the famous x-ray binary and black-hole candidate Cyg X-1. The inferred mass of the O9.7 Ia component makes it one of the two most massive objects in the cluster, consistent with the highly evolved state of its companion. Spectral analysis of the star led Herrero et al. (1995) to conclude that the star has a mass of 17-20$`_{}`$, considerably less than the $`40_{}`$ we would deduce here, but this is consistent the fact that other short-period binaries also show a similar “mass discrepancy” between the evolutionary tracks and those inferred from other means (Burkholder, Massey, & Morrell 1997), suggesting that mass has been lost via Roche-lobe overflow in such systems.

#### 2.3.9 Berkeley 86 (C2018+385)

This cluster was included in the Massey et al. (1995a) study, and we have not acquired any new data. It contains one of the well known Wolf-Rayet eclipsing binaries, V444 Cyg (WN5+O6). The O6 component is the most massive star in the cluster, as judged from the HRD, if we assume a ratio of 0.6 for the luminosity of the WN5 star to that of the O6 star (Cherepashchuk et al. 1995).

#### 2.3.10 Berkeley 87 (C2019+372)

This cluster was studied photoelectrically and photographically by Turner & Forbes (1982). The WC5 star ST 3 (WR142) is located very near the cluster center (star 29 in Fig 1 of Turner & Forbes). Previously, spectroscopy had identified a B2 I (Berk87-3) and O9 V (Berk87-25) star amongst its other members; we have obtained new spectral types for these and 11 other members. The implied spectroscopic parallax is 11.0 mag, and a slightly high $`q_r=0.84`$ value is found. All stars fall into a narrow range in $`E(BV)`$. We find one of our stars is a B\[e\] star.

#### 2.3.11 Cyg OB2

This association contains many early-type stars, including one of the rare O3If\* (Walborn 1973b). It was scrutinized both photometrically and spectroscopically by Massey & Thompson (1991). Van der Hucht et al. (1981) list three W-R stars as members, but of these only WR144 lies near the 50 arcmin (EW) by 40 arcmin (NS) region examined by Massey & Thompson. WR145 lies 30 arcmin south and 16 arcmin west of the concentration of bright blue stars (Fig. 9 of Massey & Thompson), and WR146 lies 29 arcmin east. The V magnitude of WR145 is consistent with membership, although the lack of color information and wide-range of reddenings makes membership difficult to determine. Only WR145 has line-free photometry, and its estimated distance is 0.5 kpc (Conti & Vacca 1990), considerably at variance with the 1.7 kpc distance derived by Massey & Thompson. For the sake of this study, we will make the conservative assumption that only WR144 is a likely member.

Massey & Thompson (1991) argue that the star VI Cyg No. 12 has many of the characteristics of an LBV: it is extremely luminous bolometrically ($`M_{\mathrm{bol}}11`$) and its absolute visual magnitude may be unequaled ($`M_V10`$). It is known to be both spectroscopically and photometrically variable. Humphreys & Davidson (1994) characterize the star an “A-type Hypergiant” (the spectral type is B5 Ie according to Massey & Thompson), and argue that it is “not \[a\] full-fledged LBV”. Here we continue to consider it at least an “LBV candidate”.

#### 2.3.12 Markarian 50 (C2313+602)

As described by Crampton (1975), the Wolf-Rayet star HD 219460 (WN4.5) was found to lie near the center of a concentration of early-type stars by Markarian (1951). Photographic photometry and a finding chart were given by Grubissich (1965). Crampton (1975) obtained spectra of 8 stars (2 of which were foreground), and derived a distance modulus of 12.0 mag (2.5 kpc). Turner et al. (1983) obtained photoelectric photometry for some of the stars, and a multitude of spectra for the W-R star, which was blended with a B-type visual companion (separation 1 arcsec), which they classify as B1 II. They find a distance modulus of $`12.75\pm 0.12`$ mag (3.6 kpc), using a combination of main-sequence fitting and spectroscopic parallax. Our new spectroscopic distance modulus of $`12.79\pm 0.1`$ mag is in good agreement with this value.

## 3 The HRDs: Identifying the Highest Mass Stars and Tests of Coevality

With the reddenings and distances of Section 2.2.2, we can now transform to the H-R diagram using the methods described in Paper I. Since we successfully obtained spectral types for nearly all of the brighter stars in each cluster (e.g., Table 2), we rely upon the MK type to give us the effective temperature. Since the reddening is potentially variable across each cluster, we use the intrinsic color as a function of spectral type along with the observed photometry to correct the $`V`$ magnitude for interstellar extinction, and then use our adopted distance modulus (Table 1) to determine $`M_V`$. The bolometric correction comes from the adopted effective temperature, yielding the bolometric luminosity. Reference to the evolutionary tracks of Schaller et al. (1992), computed for $`Z=0.020`$ provides both the zero-age masses and the ages of the stars.

We show in Fig. 5 the H-R diagrams for the 8 clusters for which we have new data; similar diagrams, made with the identical transformations, can be found for Tr 14, NGC 6871, Berkeley 86, and Cyg OB2 in Massey et al. (1995a). See Massey et al. (1995b) and Massey (1998c) for a discussion of the associated errors.

We can use these data to identify the highest mass stars, and consider whether the degree of coevality allows the current “turn-off” masses to have relevance to the progenitor masses of the associated Wolf-Rayet stars.

We list in Table 3 the highest mass stars in each cluster, along with their ages, both according to the evolutionary tracks. As is evident from Fig. 5 the highest mass unevolved stars range considerably from each cluster to cluster, with the youngest cluster (0.3 Myr), Tr 14, having stars well in excess of the 120$`_{}`$ highest mass tracks computed by the Geneva group. (Using a very conservative estimate of the mass-luminosity relation, we estimate that the highest mass star there corresponds to an initial mass of 185$`_{}`$, with the next highest mass star being 130$`_{}`$.) The oldest cluster (8 Myr), Markarian 50, contains stars no more massive than 20$`_{}`$. This spread in turn-off masses is considerably larger than we saw in the Magellanic Clouds; we discuss this further in Section 4.

We caution the unwary not to use the data in Table 3 to compare the initial mass functions of these clusters. Although the data discussed in Massey et al. (1995a) are adequate for those purposes, the data presented here for the 8 clusters with new data are not, primarily due to the scant amount (and poor quality) of the photometry. A project is underway at Lowell Observatory and CTIO to rectify this situation.

The H-R diagrams in Fig. 5 give readers a chance to judge the extent of coevality of each of these clusters. In Paper I we also offered a more rigorous criterion on which to judge the extent of coevality. We can use the same test here. Let us begin by assuming that the typical error in assigning a star’s location in the H-R diagram corresponds to one spectral type. (This error is considerably less than that resulting from the use of photometry alone for high-mass, hot stars, as shown graphically by Massey et al. 1995b, Figures 1c and 1d; see also derivation in Massey 1998c.) We can now ask what fraction of the stars, above some mass, are consistent with the cluster being strictly coeval (e.g., the data being consistent with all the high mass stars having been “born on a particular Tuesday”, as Hillenbrand et al. 1993 put it.) We again restrict ourselves to those stars of mass 20$`_{}`$ and above, as there is a systematic difference between the ZAMS and the transformed locations in the H-R diagram. (See Figure 8 in Paper I and the corresponding discussion.) In addition, let us compare the median age of the three highest mass stars to the median age of the entire cluster ($`>20M_{}`$). We give the results in Table 4.

As in Paper I, we find excellent agreement between our impressions from the H-R diagrams, and the quantitative determination from Table 4. If the disagreement between the median cluster age for all stars with masses $`>`$20$`_{}`$ (as determined for the stars with spectral types), and the median ages of the three highest mass stars, differs by more than 0.2 dex, we suspect the cluster may not be coeval. Or, if less than 80% of the stars are consistent with a maximum age spread of 1 Myr, we consider the degree of coevality marginal. Only Trumpler 27 and NGC 6871 fail both of these tests. As we discussed earlier, this doesn’t necessary reveal that the star-formation process for the massive stars lasted significantly longer here than for the other clusters—in the case of Tr 27 we suspect that much of the problem is confusion by background supergiants. By our stringent criteria we list the coevality of Pismis 20 and Cyg OB2 as questionable, failing one of the two tests, although inspection of the HRDs suggest that most of the highest mass stars in these regions are in fact coeval.

## 4 Results: Progenitor Masses, Bolometric Corrections, and Ages

### 4.1 Progenitor Masses: Does Metallicity Matter?

In Table 5 we list the progenitor masses of the Milky Way W-R stars in our sample, adopting the cluster turn-offs from Table 4. Values for stars not strictly coeval are included in parentheses. We do not include any entries for the two clusters we consider to be non-coeval, Tr 27 and NGC 6871. We illustrate our results in Fig. 5, where we include our data from the LMC and SMC from Paper I.

We see immediately that the progenitor of W-R stars span a large range in the Milky Way. Wolf-Rayet stars in the Milky Way are found in coeval clusters that have turn-off masses as low as 20$`_{}`$, and as high as $`>120_{}`$!

Previous estimates of the “minimum mass” to become a W-R star have tended to be around 40$`_{}`$ (Conti et al. 1983). The fact that we have two clusters, Ruprecht 44 and Markarian 50, both with turn-off masses of 20–25$`_{}`$, both of which are highly coeval, and both of which contain Wolf-Rayet stars, suggests otherwise. This result is one we could have anticipated from Paper I, where we found that at the lowest metallicity (SMC, $`Z=0.005`$) the lowest mass progenitors of W-Rs were $`>70_{}`$. In the LMC ($`Z=0.008`$) progenitor masses ranged as low as 30$`_{}`$. It is perhaps then not surprising to find 20–25$`_{}`$ stars in the Milky Way ($`Z=0.018`$) becoming Wolf-Rayet stars.

In the LMC we found that the progenitor masses of the early-type WNs (WNEs) covered a very wide range. The data for the Milky Way, scant as they are, suggest much the same (Fig. 5), as Berkeley 86 has a very high turn-off mass. On the other hand, its Wolf-Rayet member, V444 Cyg, is a relatively short-period binary and Roche-lobe induced mass-loss may have affected its evolution and current spectral type. It is hard to conclude if the WNE stage has an evolutionary significance in the Milky Way, other than to say that both of the clusters that contain the lowest turn-off masses contain WNEs.

It seems inescapable, though, that the WNL-class, and in particular the WN7s, are in fact descendants of the highest mass stars. The “WNL” section of Fig. 5 includes the 50$`_{}`$ WN6 star MR55; the other four stars are all of WN7 class. Both the models and other arguments suggest that some of these H-rich Wolf-Rayet stars may actually still be core H-burning objects (see discussion in Conti et al. 1995). We argue below (Section 4.3) that in any event these stars are evolved; e.g., they are not simply very high mass stars with strong stellar winds, as was found in NGC 3603 and R136 (Massey & Hunter 1998).

All three of the WC stars in our sample are found in clusters with high turn-off masses. While the data are scant, this suggests that the 20$`_{}`$ WNE may not become WCs at Milky Way metallicities. In the Magellanic Clouds we did find some WCs in clusters with turn-off masses of 45$`_{}`$. There is some overlap in the data (as shown in Fig. 5), and such a difference would be hard to understand on the basis of stellar evolution; perhaps we are simply seeing the effects of small-number statistics.

Finally, both the LBV star $`\eta `$ Car, and the “LBV candidate” VI Cyg No. 12 (Massey & Thompson 1991) are found in clusters with the highest turn-offs. This was also true for all of the LBVs, and LBV candidates, in the Magellanic Clouds (Fig. 5. We consider this strong evidence that LBVs are a normal stage in the evolution of the most massive stars.

### 4.2 The BCs

Let us turn briefly now to the bolometric corrections (BCs). Our assumptions here are the same as in Paper I, namely that we can place limits on the bolometric corrections for Wolf-Rayet stars by assuming that the W-R is at least as luminous (bolometrically) as the highest mass cluster star, and then comparing this to the absolute visual magnitude of the W-R, following in the footsteps of Humphreys et al. (1985) and Smith et al. (1994).

However, in the Magellanic Clouds, the amount of (bolometric) luminosity change during the W-R phase was quite modest according to the models, $`1.0`$ to $`+0.5`$ mag, relative to the luminosity at the end of core-H burning. Here, with the far greater mass-loss rates that characterize the Milky Way, the evolutionary models predict very large luminosity evolution. This is dramatically illustrated in Figs. 5-7 of Schaller et al. (1992). At Milky Way metallicities the models predict a change of 4 magnitudes during the He-burning phase for stars of 85$`_{}`$! For lower luminosities the change is more modest, and becomes negligible below 25$`_{}`$. Nevertheless, we can make some useful comparisons.

In Paper I we found that the BCs of the WNEs ranged from $`4`$ for the lowest masses to $`7`$ for the highest masses. Here we have only one WN without a companion confusing the photometry, and the BC is consistent with what we see for the MC WNEs, $`4.2`$ for the low-mass HD 65865.

Crowther, Hillier, & Smith (1995) analyzed 9 Galactic WNL stars, including two in our sample. Model analysis suggests BCs of $``$3.1 for HD 93131, and $``$3.0 for HD 93162. For these two stars we find, respectively, BCs of $`4.1`$ and $`5.4`$, with no evolution, and $`0.6`$ and $`1.5`$ with maximum evolution. We can at least say that there is no conflict with the “standard model” calculations, in accord with our findings in Paper I that there was good agreement between the models and this empirical method of finding the BCs.

### 4.3 Ages

One of the most glaring facts to emerge from Table 5 is that many of the evolved stars have ages of $``$1 Myr, if they are indeed coeval with their associated clusters.

Because the mass-luminosity relation is quite shallow for high mass stars, the H-burning lifetime is not a steep function of mass. A 120$`_{}`$ star will have a H-burning lifetime of 2.3 Myr according to the Schaller et al. (1992) models; it is not clear if the 1 Myr lifetime is consistent with any star having evolved past core-H burning. What then should we make of these “evolved” stars?

Could the ages be wrong? All four of the youngest regions contain O3 stars, and as Massey & Hunter (1998) discuss, there is both a “hot” and “cool” temperature scale for O3 stars, and we have adopted the “hot” scale (e.g., Vacca, Garmany, & Shull 1996). This will lead to younger ages than had we adopted the cooler scale, but inspection of Table 3 shows that this is not a significant factor. For instance, although Tr 14/16 contain many O3 stars, we would infer the same age of the region were we to use the multitude of O5-O6 stars present. However, in Cyg OB2 we reach a somewhat different conclusion, as here the O3 star does give a slightly younger age ($`1`$ Myr) than the other massive stars (1.5 Myr). Since the O3 class is degenerate, accurate placement of these stars is not possible without detailed modeling, but in general it appears that the ages we have derived are reliable.

Alternatively, we need to ask whether or not these “evolved” objects are in fact evolved. In both NGC 3603 and R136 there are peculiar Wolf-Rayet stars which Massey & Hunter (1998) argue are simply “super Of” stars— stars which are still H-burning and relatively unevolved, but whose extremely high luminosities and stellar winds result in Wolf-Rayet emission features. However, the NGC 3603 and R136 W-Rs are clearly unusual: despite being of “early” type (WN4.5) they have H-rich envelopes and very high absolute magnitudes. However, these properties are normally what we associate with WN7 stars: H-rich envelopes and high absolute visual magnitudes. We remind the reader that the Crowther (2000) study suggests that different WN spectral subclasses result from metallicity. Perhaps the “WN7” class in the Milky Way are extreme examples of Of stars, analogs of the very high mass objects found in NGC 3603 and R136 (with similar young ages). One could imagine that such objects, still showing H, have strong emission spectrum because of high mass-loss rates, and enhanced composition at the surface due to mixing from the core.

However, we are dubious of this explanation for one outstanding reason: $`\eta `$ Car. Although described as an “atypical prototype” of an LBV, it is very hard to imagine that this peculiar object is still in a normal, H-burning stage. The alternative suggestion that $`\eta `$ Car is a binary (Damineli, Conti, & Lopes 1997) has been refuted by improved data (Davidson et al. 2000).

Let us consider whether or not $`\eta `$ Car is coeval with its surrounding cluster. Although the spectral energy distributions of LBVs are poorly understood (Humphreys & Davidson 1994), $`\eta `$ Car is surrounded by dust, which has conveniently reprocessed its UV radiation into IR, making its bolometric luminosity relatively well known: the object is one of the brightest 20$`\mathrm{\mu m}`$ sources in the sky. Westphal & Neugebauer (1969) estimate its bolometric luminosity as $`13.6`$; Davidson et al. (1986) find $`12.3`$; we have corrected both values to our 3.1 kpc distance. We show the upper part of the H-R diagram in Fig. 5, where we have plotted $`\eta `$ Car using its more conservative luminosity, and using the 30,000K effective temperature adopted by Davidson et al. This diagram certainly implies that $`\eta `$ Car is coeval with the Tr 14/16 cluster. Furthermore, this also suggests that we are not simply looking at a few very massive stars that happen to have formed first. Without evolutionary tracks that extend to higher masses, it is hard to assign an exact age, but $`\eta `$ Car’s location in the HRD is consistent with it simply being slightly higher mass than the highest mass O3 star, and evolved.

## 5 Summary

We have conducted a study of 12 Galactic clusters containing Wolf-Rayet stars and LBVs, obtaining new spectroscopic data for 8. Of these, all but two prove to be highly coeval. We reach the following conclusions:

1. Wolf-Rayet stars in the Milky Way are found in clusters containing a large range of turn-off masses. The data suggest that at the metallicity that characterizes the Milky Way some early-type WN Wolf-Rayet stars come from progenitors with masses as low as 20–25$`_{}`$.
2. The WNEs may come from a large range in masses, as they do in the Magellanic Clouds (Paper I), but this result is uncertain, as the one high-mass WNE star in our sample is a member of a close binary, V444 Cyg.
3. WN7 stars are found only in clusters with the highest masses. The youngest of these are only 1 Myr old. Although these could still be H-burning objects, “guilt by association” suggests that these are in fact evolved massive stars, as the youngest region also contains the LBV $`\eta `$ Car, thought to be an evolved object.
4. $`\eta `$ Car itself is found to be highly coeval with the rest of the Tr 14/16 complex, despite the region’s young age. It, and the LBV candidate VI Cyg No. 12, are found in clusters with the highest masses. This is identical to what we found for the Magellanic Clouds in Paper I, and argues strongly that LBVs are a normal stage in the evolution of the most massive stars.
5. The Galactic WC stars are found in clusters with turn-off masses $`>70_{}`$. In the Magellanic Clouds we find WCs occurring in clusters with masses as low as 45 $`_{}`$. We argued in Paper I that most WNs thus evolve to WCs. The data for the Milky Way might suggest that only the more massive stars become WCs, but the sample size in the Milky Way is small (3 WCs in 3 clusters) and additional data are needed.
6. The BCs of Galactic W-Rs are hard to determine using the cluster turn-off methods, as considerable luminosity evolution is expected at the higher mass-loss rates that characterize the Milky Way luminous stars. The data are at least consistent with the “standard model” of Hillier (1987, 1990) as applied to two of the stars in our sample (Crowther et al. 1995). In Paper I we found concluded that there was excellent agreement, with the BCs of early WN and WC stars found to be extreme ($`6`$ mag).

We note that much recent work has established the need to extend the theoretical evolutionary tracks to masses higher than 120$`_{}`$. Stars with masses estimated to be as high as 160$`_{}`$ have been found in the R 136 cluster (Massey & Hunter 1998), and the Galactic clusters Trumpler 14/16, C1715-387, Pismis 24, and Cyg OB2 all contain stars whose luminosities place them above the highest evolutionary track computed by the Geneva group (120 $`_{}`$). Future observational work is needed to extend the H-R diagrams of these and other Galactic clusters, and to investigate other coeval regions in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies that can be used to extend these studies.

The majority of the data presented here were obtained during a very pleasant observing run at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and we thank its excellent support staff. Additional spectra were obtained during director discretionary time on Kitt Peak, and we thank Richard Green for making this time available. This paper was prepared while the first author was on sabbatical at Northern Arizona University (NAU), and we thank Barry Lutz for making an office available and for other hospitality. E.W. was supported through the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, which was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant 94-23921 to NAU. Useful comments on a draft of the manuscript were provided by Deidre Hunter and Nolan Walborn.