The initial luminosity and mass functions of Galactic open clusters

WE! have derived a complete magnitude-limited sample of 440 Galactic open clusters in the solar neighborhood, with integrated V-magnitude brighter than 8 mag. This sample can be used to infer the present-day luminosity and mass functions of open clusters lip to a given age; it can even be used to construct the initial mass and luminosity function (IMF, ILF) of clusters (defined as visible clusters with age 4-8 Myr). The high-mass end of the cluster IMF is a power-law with a slope of -2 or slightly shallower (-1.7) while the luminous cluster ILF has a power-slope of -1, in agreement with what, is found for extragalactic clusters. Both distribution functions show a turnover, starting at 300 M-circle dot and integrated magnitude -3 mag, respectively. The overall birthrate of clusters is 0.4 clusters per kpc(2) and per Myr. The average present-day cluster mass is 700 M-circle dot, while the average initial cluster mass is 4500 M-circle dot. The difference of these two average masses indicates the high infant mortality and/or weight loss of Galactic open clusters (due to dynamical evolution).