Disruption of Star Clusters in the Interacting Antennae Galaxies
  We reexamine the age distribution of star clusters in the Antennae in the
context of N-body+hydrodynamical simulations of these interacting galaxies. All
of the simulations that account for the observed morphology and other
properties of the Antennae have star formation rates that vary relatively
slowly with time, by factors of only 1.3 - 2.5 in the past 10^8 yr. In
contrast, the observed age distribution of the clusters declines approximately
as a power law, dN/dt \propto t^{gamma} with gamma = -1.0, for ages 10^6 yr \la
t \la 10^9 yr. These two facts can only be reconciled if the clusters are
disrupted progressively for at least 10^8 yr and possibly 10^9 yr. When we
combine the simulated formation rates with a power-law model, f_surv \propto
t^{delta}, for the fraction of clusters that survive to each age t, we match
the observed age distribution with exponents in the range -0.9 \la delta \la
-0.6 (with a slightly different delta for each simulation). The similarity
between delta and gamma indicates that dN/dt is shaped mainly by the disruption
of clusters rather than variations in their formation rate. Thus, the situation
in the interacting Antennae resembles that in relatively quiescent galaxies
such as the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds.
