The early evolution of the star cluster mass function
  Several recent studies have shown that the star cluster initial mass function
(CIMF) can be well approximated by a power law, with indications for a
steepening or truncation at high masses. This contribution considers the
evolution of such a mass function due to cluster disruption, with emphasis on
the part of the mass function that is observable in the first ~Gyr. A Schechter
type function is used for the CIMF, with a power law index of -2 at low masses
and an exponential truncation at M*. Cluster disruption due to the tidal field
of the host galaxy and encounters with giant molecular clouds flattens the
low-mass end of the mass function, but there is always a part of the `evolved
Schechter function' that can be approximated by a power law with index -2. The
mass range for which this holds depends on age, t, and shifts to higher masses
roughly as t^0.6. Mean cluster masses derived from luminosity limited samples
increase with age very similarly due to the evolutionary fading of clusters.
Empirical mass functions are, therefore, approximately power laws with index
-2, or slightly steeper, at all ages. The results are illustrated by an
application to the star cluster population of the interacting galaxy M51, which
can be well described by a model with M*=(1.9+/-0.5)x10^5 M_sun and a short
(mass-dependent) disruption time destroying M* clusters in roughly a Gyr.
