\begin{table}%t5 %\centering \par \caption{\label{tabtime}High-mass young objects in NGC~6334 - NGC~6357 ($M > 200$~\msun) at various stages of the high-mass star formation process.} \begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline\noalign{\medskip} & Starless & High-mass IR-quiet & High-luminosity & O-B3 stars \\ & clumps & protostars & IR protostars & \\ \hline NGC~6334 -- NGC~6357 & & & & \\ Number & 1 & 6 & 9 & 300\\ $\langle size \rangle$ & 0.29~pc & 0.38 pc & 0.37~pc & \\ Statistical lifetime\footnotemark[1] & $\sim$$1 \times 10^{4}$~yr & $\sim$$6 \times 10^{4}$~yr & $\sim$$9 \times 10^{4}$~yr & $\sim$$3 \times 10^{6}$~yr \\ $\langle M\rangle$ & 242~\msun & 571~\msun & 664~\msun & \\ $\langle n_{\rm H_{2}}\rangle$ & $4.1 \times 10^{4}$~cm$^{-3}$ & $1.1 \times 10^{5}$~cm$^{-3}$ & $1.9 \times 10^{5}$~cm$^{-3}$ & \\ Free-fall time\footnotemark[2] & $4.9 \times 10 ^{4}$~yr & \multicolumn{2}{c}{$8 \times 10^{4}$~yr} & \\ \hline Cygnus~X & & & & \\ Number\footnotemark[3] & 10 & 17 & 25 & 660 \\ Statistical lifetime & $3 \times 10^{4}$~yr & $\sim$$5.1 \times 10^{4}$~yr & $\sim$$7.6 \times 10^{4}$~yr & ($2 \pm 1) \times 10^{6}$~yr\\ Free-fall time & $4 \times 10^{5}$~yr & \multicolumn{2}{c}{$8\times 10^{4}$~yr} & \\ \hline\noalign{\smallskip} Statistical lifetime & $2 \times 10^{5}$~yr & $2 \times 10^{4}$~yr & $2 \times 10^{5}$~yr & \\ in dark clouds & & & & \\ \hline \end{tabular} \tablefoot{\tablefoottext{1}{Lifetime calculated relative to the known age of the stars in the young cluster Pismis~24 (cf. Massey et~al. \cite{Massey} and Ahumada et~al. \cite{Ahumada}) using the census given in line~1.} \tablefoottext{2}{Free-fall time measured from the mean values of the volume-averaged density given line~5: $t_{\rm free-fall} = \sqrt{\frac{3 \pi}{32 G \langle \rho \rangle}}$} \tablefoottext{3}{The numbers of OB3~stars in Cygnus~X and thus the statistical lifetimes of high-mass young stellar objects have been corrected from the values given in Motte et~al. (\cite{Motte07}).} } \end{table}