Uniformity of the WC stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Results on the uniformity of the WC stars in the LMC are presented. It is shown to be a tenable hypothesis that (b-v)sub 0 is the same for all observed stars, thus enabling estimates of absorption in the 30 Dor region where local irregularities are large. The flux in the C IV lambda 5808 line is 3 x 10 to the 36th ergs/sec and is constant within observational errors for all but one of the 10 WC4 stars with available flux data. The flux ratio (lambda 5808/lambda 4650) = - 0.22 + or - 0.1 dex and can be used to determine reddening. The width of the lambda 5808 line is less than that of the lambda 4650 line in WC4 stars and greater in the WO stars. The use of Wolf-Rayet star emission-line fluxes for reddening and distance determination has a great advantage over other techniques: the broad lines stand out clearly even at low spectral resolution. 36 refs.