ONC stars masses from literature

A comprehensive cross-matched catalogue combining optical, infrared, and X-ray surveys of ONC members was also compiled and made available. The models evolve to a similar radial distribution of high-mass stars after the core collapse (about half a median two-body relaxation time, t_rh_) and become observationally indistinguishable from the point of view of mass segregation at time tau_v_~3.3t_rh_. In the case of the ONC, using the distribution of high-mass stars, we may not rule out either evolutionary scenario (regardless of whether they are initially mass segregated).

When we account for extinction and elongation of the ONC, as reported elsewhere, an initially perfectly mass-segregated state seems to be more consistent with the observed cluster.