v 1 5 J an 1 99 3 PUPT - 1370 December 1992 Light - Cone Approach to Random Surfaces Embedded in Two Dimensions ⋆

We review the recently proposed light-cone quantization of the matrix model which is expected to have a critical point describing 2-d quantum gravity coupled to c = 2 matter. In the N → ∞ limit, we derive a linear Schroedinger equation for the free string spectrum. Numerical study of this equation suggests that the spectrum is tachyonic, and that the string tension diverges at the critical point. ⋆ Based on the talk delivered by I. R. Klebanov at the 7th Nishinomiya–Yukawa Memorial Symposium “Quantum Gravity”, November 1992. † On leave of absence from the Rudjer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia