Brane backreactions and the Fischler-Susskind mechanism in conformal field theory

The backreaction of D-branes on closed string moduli is studied in perturbed conformal field theory. To this end we analyse the divergences in the modular integral of the annulus diagram. By the Fischler-Susskind mechanism, these divergences lead to additional terms in the bulk renormalisation group equations. We derive explicit expressions for these backreaction terms, and follow the resulting renormalisation group flow in several examples, finding agreement with geometric expectations. E-mail: [email protected]