Generalized Dirichlet normal ordering in open bosonic strings

Abstract

Generally, open string boundary conditions play a nontrivial role in string theory. For example, in the presence of an antisymmetric tensor background field, they will lead the spacetime coordinates noncommutative. In this paper, we mainly discuss how to build up a generalized Dirichlet normal ordered product of open bosonic string embedding operators that satisfies both the equations of motion and the generalized Dirichlet boundary conditions at the quantum level in the presence of an antisymmetric background field, as the generalized Neumann case has already been discussed in the literature. Further, we also give a brief check of the consistency of the theory under the newly introduced normal ordering.