The non-perturbative formulation of 2-dimensional quantum gravity in terms of the large-N limit of matrix models is studied to include the effects of higher order curvature terms. This leads to matrix models whose potential contains a symmetry breaking term of the form Tr ϕAϕA, where A is a given fixed matrix. This is studied in d = 0 dimensions and effectively induces additional terms of the form ( Tr ϕk)2 in the one matrix potential. An exact solution to leading order of the potential V(ϕ) = 1/2 Tr ϕ2 + g/N Tr ϕ4 + g′/N2 ( Tr ϕ2)2 is presented leading to 3 phases: γ = −1/2 (smooth surfaces), γ = 1/2 (branched polymer) and γ = 1/3 (intermediate phase). Including a Tr ϕ6 term in the potential gives rise to an additional phase with γ = 1/4. It is conjectured that for the general polynomial potential there are phases with γ = 1/n, n = 2, 3, …. The γ > 0 phases may correspond to c > 1 matter coupled to 2-dimensional gravity.
We further study the nonperturbative formulation of two-dimensional black holes. We find a nonlinear differential equation satisfied by the tachyon in the black hole background. We show that singularities in the tachyon field configurations are always associated with divergent semiclassical expansions and are absent in the exact theory. We also discuss how the Euclidian black hole emerges from an analytically continued fermion theory that corresponds to the right side up harmonic oscillator potential.⋆ adhar@tifrvax.bitnet.† mandal@tifrvax.bitnet. ‡ wadia@tifrvax.bitnet
Classically a black hole can absorb but not emit energy. We discuss how this T-asymmetric property of black holes arises in the recently proposed (T-symmetric) microscopic models of black holes based on bound states of D-branes. In these string theory based models, the nonvanishing classical absorption is made possible essentially by the exponentially increasing degeneracy of quantum states with mass of the black hole. The classical limit of the absorption crosssection computed in the microscopic model agrees with the result obtained from a classical analysis of a wave propagating in the background metric of the corresponding black hole (upto a numerical factor).
We apply the method of coadjoint orbits of W∞-algebra to the problem of non-relativistic fermions in one dimension. This leads to a geometric formulation of the quantum theory in terms of the quantum phase space distribution of the Fermi fluid. The action has an infinite series of expansion in the string coupling, which to leading order reduces to the previously discussed geometric action for the classical Fermi fluid based on the group w∞ of area-preserving diffeomorphisms. We briefly discuss the strong coupling limit of the string theory which, unlike the weak coupling regime, does not seem to admit a two-dimensional space-time picture. Our methods are equally applicable to interacting fermions in one dimension.
We investigate some basic physical properties of W gravities and W strings, using a free field realization. We argue that the configuration space of W gravities have global characteristics in addition to the Euler characteristic. We identify one such global quantity to be a "monopole" charge and show how this charge appears in the exponents. The free energy would then involve a "θ" parameter. Using a BRST procedure we find all the physical states of W3 and W4 gravities, and show that physical operators are nonsingular composites of the screening charge operators. (The latter are not physical operators for N≥3.) For W strings we show how the W constraints lead to the emergence of a single (and not many) extra dimension coming from the W-gravity sector. By analyzing the resulting dispersion relations we find that both the lower and upper critical dimensions are lowered compared to ordinary two-dimensional gravity. The pure W gravity spectrum reveals an intriguing "numerological" connection with unitary minimal models coupled to ordinary gravity.
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