  We report on a multi-wavelength study of the relationship between young star
clusters in the Antennae galaxies (NGC 4038/9) and their interstellar
environment, with the goal of understanding the formation and feedback effects
of star clusters in merging galaxies. This is possible for the first time
because various new observations (from X-rays to radio wavelengths) have become
available in the past several years. Quantitative comparisons are made between
the positions of the star clusters (broken into three age groups) and the
properties of the interstellar medium by calculating the two-point correlation
functions. We find that young star clusters are distributed in a clustered
fashion. The youngest star clusters are associated with molecular cloud
complexes with characteristic radii of about 1 kpc. In addition, there is a
weak tendency for them to be found in regions with higher HI velocity
dispersions. No dominant triggering mechanism is identified for the majority of
the clusters in the Antennae. Feedback from young bright cluster complexes show
large H_alpha bubbles and H_alpha velocity gradients in shells around the
complexes. We estimate the current star formation rate to be 20 solar mass/yr,
and the gas consumption timescale to be 700 Myr. The latter is comparable to
the merging time scale and indicates that star formation has been enchanced by
the merger event. Finally, we find that the Schmidt law, with index N=-1.4, is
also a good description of the cluster formation triggered by merging in the
Antennae. There is some evidence that feedback effects may modify the Schmidt
law at scales below 1 kpc.
