We define a theory of descendent integration on the moduli spaces of stable pointed disks. The descendent integrals are proved to be coefficients of the τ-function of an open KdV heirarchy. A relation between the integrals and a representation of half the Virasoro algebra is also proved. The construction of the theory requires an in depth study of homotopy classes of multivalued boundary conditions. Geometric recursions based on the combined structure of the boundary conditions and the moduli space are used to compute the integrals. We also provide a detailed analysis of orientations.
Our open KdV and Virasoro constraints uniquely specify a theory of higher genus open descendent integrals. As a result, we obtain an open analog (governing all genera) of Witten's conjectures concerning descendent integrals on the Deligne-Mumford space of stable curves.
