Exceptional non-renormalization properties and OPE analysis of chiral four-point functions in N=4SYM4

We show that certain classes of apparently unprotected operators in N = 4 SYM4 do not receive quantum corrections as a consequence of a partial non-renormalization theorem for the 4-point function of chiral primary operators. We develop techniques yielding the asymptotic expansion of the 4-point function of CPOs up to order O(lambda(2)) and we perform a detailed OPE analysis, Our results reveal the existence of new non-renormalized operators of approximate dimension 6. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.