Open descendants in conformal field theory

Open descendants extend Conformal Field Theory to unoriented surfaces with boundaries. The construction rests on two types of generalizations of the fusion algebra, The first is needed even in the relatively simple case of diagonal models. It leads to a new tensor that satisfies the fusion algebra, but whose entries are signed integers. The second is needed when dealing with non-diagonal models, where Cardy's ansatz does not apply. It leads to a new tensor with positive integer entries: that satisfies a set of polynomial equations and encodes the classification of the allowed boundary operators.