Star Cluster Formation and Destruction in the Merging Galaxy NGC 3256
  We use the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope to study
the rich population of young massive star clusters in the main body of NGC
3256, a merging pair of galaxies with a high star formation rate (SFR) and SFR
per unit area ($\Sigma_{\rm{SFR}}$). These clusters have luminosity and mass
functions that follow power laws, $dN/dL \propto L^{\alpha}$ with $\alpha =
-2.23 \pm 0.07$, and $dN/dM \propto M^{\beta}$ with $\beta = -1.86 \pm 0.34$
for $\tau < 10$ Myr clusters, similar to those found in more quiescent
galaxies. The age distribution can be described by $dN/d\tau \propto \tau ^
\gamma$, with $\gamma \approx -0.67 \pm 0.08$ for clusters younger than about a
few hundred million years, with no obvious dependence on cluster mass. This is
consistent with a picture where $\sim 80 \%$ of the clusters are disrupted each
decade in time. We investigate the claim that galaxies with high
$\Sigma_{\rm{SFR}}$ form clusters more efficiently than quiescent systems by
determining the fraction of stars in bound clusters ($\Gamma$) and the CMF/SFR
statistic (CMF is the cluster mass function) for NGC 3256 and comparing the
results with those for other galaxies. We find that the CMF/SFR statistic for
NGC 3256 agrees well with that found for galaxies with $\Sigma_{\rm{SFR}}$ and
SFRs that are lower by $1-3$ orders of magnitude, but that estimates for
$\Gamma$ are only robust when the same sets of assumptions are applied.
Currently, $\Gamma$ values available in the literature have used different sets
of assumptions, making it more difficult to compare the results between
galaxies.
