Order ${\bf 1/N^3}$ corrections to the conformal anomaly of the (2,0) theory in six dimensions

TL;DR

This paper calculates the subleading 1/N^3 corrections to the conformal anomaly of the six-dimensional (2,0) theory using supergravity, providing an exact N-dependence that bridges large N and free theories.

Contribution

It derives the exact N-dependence of the conformal anomaly for the (2,0) theory, including one-loop supergravity corrections and subleading terms, extending previous large N results.

Findings

Confirmed the anomaly interpolates between large N and free limits.

Identified the N-dependence of the anomaly as a protected, simple form.

Calculated the bulk one-loop supergravity contribution to the anomaly.

Abstract

Using Supergravity on $AdS_7\times S^4$ we calculate the bulk one-loop contribution to the conformal anomaly of the (2,0) theory describing $N$ coincident M5 branes. When this is added to the tree-level result, and an additional subleading order contribution calculated by Tseytlin, it gives an expression for the anomaly that interpolates correctly between the large $N$ theory and the free (2,0) tensor theory corresponding to N=1. Thus we can argue that we have identified the exact $N$-dependence of the anomaly, which may have a simple protected form valid away from the large $N$ limit.