  Most stars form in a cluster environment. These stars are initially
surrounded by discs from which potentially planetary systems form. Of all
cluster environments starburst clusters are probably the most hostile for
planetary systems in our Galaxy. The intense stellar radiation and extreme
density favour rapid destruction of circumstellar discs via photoevaporation
and stellar encounters. Evolving a virialized model of the Arches cluster in
the Galactic tidal field we investigate the effect of stellar encounters on
circumstellar discs in a prototypical starburst cluster. Despite its proximity
to the deep gravitational potential of the Galactic centre only a moderate
fraction of members escapes to form an extended pair of tidal tails. Our
simulations show that encounters destroy one third of the circumstellar discs
in the cluster core within the first 2.5 Myr of evolution, preferentially
affecting the least and most massive stars. A small fraction of these events
causes rapid ejection and the formation of a weaker second pair of tidal tails
that is overpopulated by disc-poor stars. Two predictions arise from our study:
(i) If not destroyed by photoevaporation protoplanetary discs of massive late
B- and early O-type stars represent the most likely hosts of planet formation
in starburst clusters. (ii) Multi-epoch K- and L-band photometry of the Arches
cluster would provide the kinematically selected membership sample required to
detect the additional pair of disc-poor tidal tails.
