OPEN STRINGS AND D-BRANES IN WZNW MODELS

An abundance of Poisson-Lie symmetries of the WZNW models is uncovered . They give rise, via the Poisson-Lie T-duality, to a rich structure o f dual pairs of D-branes configurations in group manifolds, The D-bran es are characterized by their shapes and certain two-forms living on t hem. The WZNW path integral for the interacting D-branes diagrams is u nambiguously defined if the two-form on the D-brane and the WZNW three -form on the group form an integer-valued cocycle in the relative sing ular cohomology of the group manifold with respect to its D-brane subm anifold. An example of the SU(N) WZNW model is studied in some detail. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.