  Unstable D-particles in type-IIB string theory correspond to sphaleron
solutions in the dual gauge theory. We construct an explicit time-dependent
solution for the sphaleron decay on S^3 x R, as well as the coherent state
corresponding to the decay product. We develop a method to count the number of
bulk particles in the AdS/CFT setup. When applied to our coherent state, the
naive number operator O^\dagger O is shown to be inappropriate, even in the
large-N limit. The reason is that the final state consists of a large number of
particles. By computing all probabilities for finding multi-particle states in
the coherent state, we deduce the bulk particle content of the final state of
the sphaleron decay. The qualitative features of this spectrum are compared
with the results expected from the gravity side, and agreement is found.
