Twist symmetry and open-string Wilson lines

Abstract

The Möbius amplitude plays an important role in open-string theories, since it determines which sectors of a given model consist of unoriented open strings. It also fixes the Chan-Paton representations of all their states, according to the behavior under the interchange of the ends of open strings (“twist”). In this paper we discuss the role played by conventional Wilson lines in Chan-Paton symmetry breaking, and we show that the presence of an extended symmetry algebra allows, in general, a number of choices for the behavior of massive states under twist. This freedom may be ascribed to additional discrete Wilson lines, and yields consistent modifications of the group assignments, that are illustrated in a number of examples.