Higher Twisted Sector Couplings of $Z_N$ Orbifolds

Abstract

We derive the basic correlation functions of twist fields coming from arbitrary twisted sectors in symmetric $Z_N$ orbifold conformal field theories, keeping all the admissible marginal perturbations, in particular those corresponding to the antisymmetric tensor background field. This allows a thorough investigation of modular symmetries in this type of string compactification. Such a study is explicitly carried out for the group generated by duality transformations. Thus, apart from being of phenomenological use, our couplings are also interesting from the mathematical point of view as they represent automorphic functions for a large class of discrete groups.