Representations of superconformal algebras in the AdS₇/4/CFT₆/3 correspondence

We perform a general analysis of representations of the superconformal algebras OSp(8/4,R) and OSp(8*/2N) in harmonic superspace. We present a construction of their highest-weight UIR's by multiplication of the different types of massless conformal superfields ("supersingletons"). In particular, all "short multiplets" are classified. Representations undergoing shortening have "protected dimension" and may correspond to BPS states in the dual supergravity theory in anti-de Sitter space. These results are relevant for the classification of multitrace operators in boundary conformally invariant theories as well as for the classification of AdS black holes preserving different fractions of supersymmetry.