R^4 terms in 11 dimensions and conformal anomaly of (2,0) theory

Abstract

Using AdS_7/CFT_6 correspondence we discuss computation of a subleading O(N) term in the scale anomaly of (2,0) theory describing N coincident M5 branes. While the leading O(N^3) contribution to the anomaly is determined by the supergravity action, the O(N) contribution comes from a particular R^4 term (8d Euler density) in the 11-dimensional effective action. This R^4 term is argued to be part of the same superinvariant as the P-odd C_3 R^4 term known to produce O(N) contribution to the R-symmetry anomaly of (2,0) theory. The known results for R-anomaly suggest that the total scale anomaly extrapolated to N=1 should be the same as the anomaly of a single free (2,0) tensor multiplet. A proposed explanation of this agreement is that the coefficient 4N^3 in the anomaly (which was found previously to be also the ratio of the 2-point and 3-point graviton correlators in the (2,0) theory and in the free tensor multiplet theory) is shifted to 4N^3 -3N.