Strings, Matrix Models, and Meanders

I briefly review the present status of bosonic strings and discretized random surfaces in D>1 which seem to be in a polymer rather than stringy phase. As an explicit example of what happens, I consider the Kazakov-Migdal model with a logarithmic potential which is exactly solvable for any D (at large D for an arbitrary potential). I discuss also the meander problem and report some new results on its representation via matrix models and the relation to the Kazakov-Migdal model. A supersymmetric matrix model is especially useful for describing the principal meanders.Comment: 12 pages, 4 Latex figures, uses espcrc2.sty Talk at the 29th Ahrenshoop Symp., Buckow, Germany, Aug.29 - Sep.2, 199

Large-N Reduction, Master Field and Loop Equations in Kazakov-Migdal Model

I study the large-N reduction a la Eguchi--Kawai in the Kazakov--Migdal lattice gauge model. I show that both quenching and twisting prescriptions lead to the coordinate-independent master field. I discuss properties of loop averages in reduced as well as unreduced models and demonstrate those coincide in the large mass expansion. I derive loop equations for the Kazakov--Migdal model at large N and show they are reduced for the quadratic potential to a closed set of two equations. I find an exact strong coupling solution of these equations for any D and extend the result to a more general interacting potential.Comment: 17 pages (1 Latex figure), ITEP-YM-6-92 The figure is replaced by printable on

The First Thirty Years of Large-N Gauge Theory

I review some developments in the large-N gauge theory since 1974. The main attention is payed to: multicolor QCD, matrix models, loop equations, reduced models, 2D quantum gravity, free random variables, noncommutative theories, AdS/CFT correspondence.Comment: 13.1pp., Latex, 2 figs; v2: 2 refs added. Talk at Large Nc QCD 200

Critical Scaling and Continuum Limits in the D>1 Kazakov-Migdal Model

I investigate the Kazakov-Migdal (KM) model -- the Hermitean gauge-invariant matrix model on a D-dimensional lattice. I utilize an exact large-N solution of the KM model with a logarithmic potential to examine its critical behavior. I find critical lines associated with gamma_{string}=-1/2 and gamma_{string}=0 as well as a tri-critical point associated with a Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition. The continuum theories are constructed expanding around the critical points. The one associated with gamma_{string}=0 coincides with the standard d=1 string while the Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition separates it from that with gamma_{string}=-1/2 which is indistinguishable from pure 2D gravity for local observables but has a continuum limit for correlators of extended Wilson loops at large distances due to a singular behavior of the Itzykson-Zuber correlator of the gauge fields. I reexamine the KM model with an arbitrary potential in the large-D limit and show that it reduces at large N to a one-matrix model whose potential is determined self-consistently. A relation with discretized random surfaces is established via the gauged Potts model which is equivalent to the KM model at large N providing the coordination numbers coincide.Comment: 45pp., Latex, YM-4-9