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String theories with two-dimensional space-time target spaces are characterized by the existence of a “ground ring” of operators of spin (0, 0). By understanding this ring, one can understand the symmetries of the theory and illuminate the relation of the critical string theory to matrix models. The symmetry groups that arise are, roughly, the area-preserving diffeomorphisms of a two-dimensional phase space that preserve the Fermi surface (of the matrix model) and the volume-preserving diffeomorphisms of a three-dimensional cone. The three dimensions in question are the matrix eigenvalue, its canonical momentum, and the time of the matrix model.
This volume is based on lecture courses and seminars given at the LMS Durham Symposium on the geometry of low-dimensional manifolds. This area has been one of intense research recently, with major breakthroughs that have illuminated the way a number of different subjects interact (for example: topology, differential and algebraic geometry and mathematical physics). The workshop brought together a number of distinguished figures to give lecture courses and seminars in these subjects; the volume that has resulted is the only expository source for much of the material, and will be essential for all research workers in geometry and mathematical physics.
