Comments on D-branes in AdS3

We study D-branes that preserve a diagonal SL(2) affine Lie algebra in string theory on AdS(3). We find three classes of solutions, corresponding to the following representations of SL(2): (1) degenerate, finite-dimensional representations with half integer spin, (2) principal continuous series, (3) principal discrete series. We solve the bootstrap equations for the vacuum wave functions and discuss the corresponding open string spectrum. We argue that from the point of view of the AdS/CFT correspondence, the above D-branes introduce boundaries with conformal boundary conditions into the two-dimensional spacetime. Open string vertex operators correspond to boundary perturbations. We also comment on the geometric interpretation of the branes. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.