Saturating unitarity bounds at U-duality symmetric points

Abstract

It has recently been shown that the leading Wilson coefficient in type II string theory can take (almost) all values allowed by unitarity, crossing symmetry and maximal supersymmetry in D=10 and D=9 dimensions. This suggests that string theory might define the unique consistent quantum theory of gravity with maximal supersymmetry. We study the minima of the leading Wilson coefficient in D=6, 7 and 8 dimensions and find the global minimum at the point in moduli space with maximal symmetry. The minimum value turns out to always be negative for D<8.