A Nonperturbative Treatment of Two-dimensional Quantum Gravity

We propose a nonperturbative definition of two-dimensional quantum gravity, based on a double scaling limit of the random matrix model. We develop an operator formalism for utilizing the method of orthogonal polynomials that allows us to solve the matrix models to all orders in the genus expansion. Using this formalism we derive an exact differential equation for the partition function of two-dimensional gravity as a function of the string coupling constant that governs the genus expansion of two-dimensional surfaces, and discuss its properties and consequences. We construct and discuss the correlation functions of an infinite set of pointlike and loop operators to all orders in the genus expansion.

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