On the logarithmic behaviour in N=4 SYM theory

We show that the logarithmic behaviour seen in perturbative and non perturbative contributions to Green functions of gauge-invariant composite operators in N=4 SYM with SU(N) gauge group can be consistently interpreted in terms of anomalous dimensions of unprotected operators in long multiplets of the superconformal group SU(2,2|4). In order to illustrate the point we analyse the short-distance behaviour of a particularly simple four-point Green function of the lowest scalar components of the N=4 supercurrent multiplet. Assuming the validity of the Operator Product Expansion, we are able to reproduce the known value of the one-loop anomalous dimension of the single-trace operators in the Konishi supermultiplet. We also show that it does not receive any non-perturbative contribution from the one-instanton sector. We briefly comment on double- and multi-trace operators and on the bearing of our results on the AdS/SCFT correspondence. (author)