Area Preserving Diffeomorphisms and $W_{\infty}$ Symmetry in a $2+1$ Chern-Simons Theory

Abstract

We discuss the $W_{\infty}$ symmetry in the $2+1$ gauge theory with the Chern-Simons term. It is shown that the generators of this symmetry act on the ground state as the canonical transformations in the phase space. We shall also discuss the analogy between discrete states in $c=1$ string theory and Landau level states in $2+1$ gauge theory with Chern-Simons term.