First, Second and Third Massive Stars in Open Clusters

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the masses of the first, second, and third most massive stars in open clusters can be used to estimate total cluster mass and membership, highlighting the third massive star as the most reliable indicator.

Contribution

It introduces new estimator functions based on numerical simulations and analytical methods to improve cluster mass estimation using massive star data.

Findings

Third massive star provides a more precise mass estimate than the first.

Mass distributions exhibit power-law tails at high masses.

Median or mode values are preferable over averages for mass estimation.

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to study possibilities of using first, second and third massive stars in open clusters to estimate total cluster mass and membership. We built estimator functions with the use of numerical simulations and analytical approximations and studied the precision and error distribution of the obtained estimator functions. We found that the distribution of the mass of first, second and third massive stars shows strong power-law tails at the high-mass end, thus it is better to use median or mode values instead of average ones. We show that the third massive star is a much better estimator then the first as it is more precise and less dependent on parameters such as maximum allowed stellar mass.