Extremely rapid star cluster disruption in high-shear circumnuclear
  starburst rings: the unusual case of NGC 7742
  All known mass distributions of recently formed star cluster populations
resemble a "universal" power-law function. Here we assess the impact of the
extremely disruptive environment in NGC 7742's circumnuclear starburst ring on
the early evolution of the galaxy's high-mass (~10^5-10^7 Msun) star cluster
population. Surprisingly, and contrary to expectations, at all ages --
including the youngest, <15 Myr -- the cluster mass functions are robustly and
verifiably represented by lognormal distributions that resemble those commonly
found only for old, evolved globular cluster systems in the local Universe.
This suggests that the high-shear conditions in the NGC 7742 starburst ring may
significantly speed up dynamical star cluster destruction. This enhanced
mass-dependent disruption rate at very young ages might be caused by a
combination of the starburst ring's high density and the shear caused by the
counterrotating gas disk in the galaxy's inner region.
