O-STARS IN TRANSITION .2. FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES AND EVOLUTIONARY STATUS OF OFPE WN9 STARS FROM HUBBLE-SPACE-TELESCOPE ULTRAVIOLET OBSERVATIONS/

We present new HST/FOS ultraviolet spectroscopic observations of seven LMC Ofpe/WN9 stars, We find that Ofpe/WN9) stars have slow winds with terminal velocities of about 400 ism s(-1) and high mass-loss rates o f the order of 2-5 x 10(-5) M. yr(-1). Ofpe/WN9 stellar temperatures a nd radii are in the range 30,000-39,000 It, and 19-39 R., respectively . Stellar luminosities are between log (L/L.) = 5.6 and 6.3. We study the Ofpe/WN9 stars winds and examine their evolutionary status. We fin d that Ofpe/WN9 stars are intermediate between O and W-R stars in term s of the wind momentum flux. We also find. that the stellar properties and wind momentum of the Ofpe/WN9 sample place them in the evolutiona ry sequence: O --> Of --> H-rich WNL --> Ofpe/WN9, for initial stellar masses less than similar to 100 M.. In view of persisting discrepanci es of standard massive star models with observations, we compute massi ve main-sequence models according to three different evolutionary scen arios. We find that both higher mass-loss rate and enhanced mixing bet ween core and envelope are required in order to yield models compatibl e with the derived stellar and wind properties of Ofpe/WN9 stars. The emerging picture may be consistent with earlier evidence of Ofpe/WN9 s tars being quiescent luminous blue variables (LBVs). This idea is furt her strengthened by the highly reduced surface H mass fractions of the Ofpe/WN9 stars. We derive X(s) = 0.5 to 0.3, which still excludes Ofp e/WN9 stars from being core He-burning objects, but is almost identica l to the X(s) values recently measured in LBVs.