Matrices on a point as the theory of everything

Abstract

It is shown that the world-line can be eliminated in the matrix quantum mechanics conjectured by Banks, Fischler, Shenker and Susskind to describe the light-cone physics of M theory. The resulting matrix model has a form that suggests origins in the reduction to a point of a Yang-Mills theory. The reduction of the Nishino-Sezgin 10+2 dimensional supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory to a point gives a matrix model with the appropriate features: Lorentz invariance in 9+1 dimensions, supersymmetry, and the correct number of physical degrees of freedom.