  We study the evolution and observability of young, compact star clusters near
the Galactic center, such as the Arches and Quintuplet systems. The clusters
are modeled by integrating the equations of motion of all stars while
accounting for the internal evolution of stars and binaries, as well as the
effect of the Galactic tidal field. We find that clusters within 150 pc of the
Galactic center dissolve within ~55 Myr, but their projected densities drop
below the background density in the direction of the Galactic center within
only a few Myr, effectively making these clusters undetectable after that time.
Detailed observations of the Arches cluster, taken at face value, suggest that
its mass function is unusually flat and that the cluster contains an
overabundance of stars more massive than 20 Msun. Our dynamical analysis,
however, shows that the observed characteristics of the Arches cluster are
consistent with a perfectly normal initial mass function. The observed
anomalies are then caused by a combination of observational selection effects
and the dynamical evolution of the cluster. We calibrate the current parameters
of the Arches cluster using a normal initial mass function and conclude that
the cluster is more massive than 40000 Msun, has a half mass radius of about
0.35 pc and is located between 50 and 90 pc from the Galactic center.
