Light-Cone Quantization of the c=2 Matrix Model

Abstract

We study the large $N$ limit of an interacting \td\ matrix field theory, whose perturbative expansion generates the sum over planar random graphs embedded in two dimensions. In the \lc\ quantization the theory possesses closed string excitations which become free as $N\to\infty$. If the longitudinal momenta are discretized, then the calculation of the free string spectrum reduces to finite matrix diagonalization, the size of the matrix growing as the cut-off is removed. Our numerical results suggest that, for a critical coupling, the \lc\ string spectrum becomes continuous. This would indicate the massless dynamics of the Liouville mode of \td\ gravity, which would constitute a {\it third} dimension of the string theory.