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

Using AdS(7)/CFT6 correspondence we compute a subleading O(N) term in the s cale anomaly of (2, 0) theory describing N coincident M5 branes. While the leading O(N-3) contribution to the anomaly is determined by the value of th e supergravity action, the O(N) contribution comes from a particular R-4 te rm (8-d Euler density invariant) in the 11-dimensional effective action. Th is R-4 term is argued to be part of the same superinvariant as the P-odd C3 R4 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 an omaly extrapolated to N = 1 should be the same as the anomaly of a single f ree (2, 0) tensor multiplet. A proposed explanation of this agreement is th at the coefficient 4N(3) in the anomaly (which was found previously to be a lso 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. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.