Comments on open-string orbifolds with a non-vanishing Bab Original Research Article

We study the effect of a non-vanishing flux for the NS–NS antisymmetric tensor in open-string orbifolds. As in toroidal models, the total dimension of the Chan–Paton gauge group is reduced proportionally to the rank of Bab, both on D9- and on D5-branes, while the Möbius amplitude involves some signs that, in the Z2 orbifold, allow one to connect continuously U(n) groups to Sp(n)⊗Sp(n) groups on each set of D-branes. In this case, non-universal couplings between twisted scalars and gauge vectors arise, as demanded by the generalised Green–Schwarz mechanism. We also comment on the role of the NS–NS antisymmetric tensor in a recently proposed type I scenario, where supersymmetry is broken on the D-branes, while it is preserved in the bulk.