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.