The R136 star cluster hosts several stars whose individual masses
  greatly exceed the accepted 150 Msun stellar mass limit
  Spectroscopic analyses of H-rich WN5-6 stars within the young star clusters
NGC 3603 and R136 are presented, using archival HST & VLT spectroscopy, & high
spatial resolution near-IR photometry. We derive high T* for the WN stars in
NGC 3603 (T*~42+/-2 kK) & R136 (T*~53+/-3 kK) plus clumping-corrected dM/dt ~
2-5x10^-5 Msun/yr which closely agree with theoretical predictions. These stars
make a disproportionate contribution to the global budget of their host
clusters. R136a1 alone supplies ~7% of N(LyC) of the entire 30 Dor region.
Comparisons with stellar models calculated for the main-sequence evolution of
85-500 Msun suggest ages of ~1.5 Myr & M_init in the range 105 - 170 Msun for 3
systems in NGC 3603, plus 165-320 Msun for 4 stars in R136. Our high stellar
masses are supported by dynamical mass determinations for the components of NGC
3603 A1. We consider the predicted L_X of the R136 stars if they were close,
colliding wind binaries. R136c is consistent with a colliding wind binary
system. However, short period, colliding wind systems are excluded for R136a WN
stars if mass ratios are of order unity. Widely separated systems would have
been expected to harden owing to early dynamical encounters with other massive
stars in such a dense environment. From simulated star clusters, whose
constituents are randomly sampled from the Kroupa IMF, both clusters are
consistent with a tentative upper mass limit of ~300 Msun. The Arches cluster
is either too old, exhibits a deficiency of very massive stars, or more likely
stellar masses have been underestimated - M_init for the most luminous stars in
the Arches cluster approach 200 Msun according to contemporary stellar &
photometric results. The potential for stars greatly exceeding 150 Msun within
metal-poor galaxies suggests that such pair-instability SNe could occur within
the local universe, as has been claimed for SN 2007bi (abridged).
