Unmixing Supergravity

Abstract

We examine the double-trace spectrum of $\mathcal{N} = 4$ super Yang-Mills theory in the supergravity limit. At large $N$ double-trace operators exhibit degeneracy. By considering free-field and tree-level supergravity contributions to four-point functions of half-BPS operators we resolve the degeneracy for a large family of double-trace operators. The mixing problem reveals a surprisingly simple structure which allows us to obtain their three-point functions at leading order in the large $N$ expansion as well as their leading anomalous dimensions.