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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., 17 pages, 5 figures; v2: minor additions to the text, typos fixed, references added, version to appear in Phys. Rev. D