Random Surfaces and Quantum Gravity

The Cargese Workshop Random Surfaces and Quantum Gravity was held from May 27 to June 2, 1990. Little was known about string theory in the non-perturbative regime before Oetober 1989 when non-perturbative equations for the string partition functions were found by using methods based on the random triangulations of surfaees. This set of methods pro­ vides a deseription of non-eritical string theory or equivalently of the coupling of matter fields to quantum gravity in two dimensions. The Cargese meeting was very successful in that it provided the first opportunity to gather most of the active workers in the field for a fuH week of lectures and extensive informal discussions about these exeiting new developments. The main results were reviewed, recent advances were explained, new results and conjectures (which appear for the first time in these proceedings) were presented and discussed. Among the most important topics discussed at the workshop were: The relation of KdV theory to loop equations and the Virasoro algebra, new results in Liouville field theory, effective (1 + 1) dimensional theory for 2 - D quantum gravity coupled to c = 1 matter and its fermionization, proposal for a new geometrical interpretation of the string equation and possible definition of quantum Riemann surfaces, discussion of the string equation for the multi-matrix models, links with topological field theories of gravity, issues in using target space supersymmetry to define good theories, definition of the partition function via analytic continuation, new models of random surfaces

Dedication. Preface. Acknowledgments. Clifford Geometric Algebras in Multilinear Algebra and Non-Euclidean Geometries.- Geometric algebra Projective Geometries; Affine and other geometries; Affine Geometry of pseudo-euclidean space; Conformal Geometry and the Horosphere; References. Content-Based Information Retrieval by Group Theoretical Methods.- Introduction; Motivating Examples; General Concept; Fault Tolerance.- Applications, Prototypes, and Test Results; Related Work and Future Research; References.- Four Problems in Radar.-Introduction; Radar Fundamentals; Radar Waveforms; Signal Processing; Space-Time Adaptive Processing; Four Problems in Radar; Conclusions. Introduction to Generalized Classical and Quantum Signal and System Theories on Groups and Hypergroups.-Generalized classical signal/system theory on hypergroups; Generalized quantum signal/system theory on hypergroups; Conclusion; References. Lie Groups and Lie Algebras in Robotics.- Introduction -- Rigid Body Motions; Lie Groups; Finite Screw Motions; Mechanical Joints; Invisible Motion and Gripping; Forward Kinematics; Lie Algebra; The Adjoint Representation; The Exponential Map Derivatives of Exponentials; Jacobians; Concluding Remarks; References. Quantum/Classical Interface: a Geometric Approach from the Classical Side.- Introduction Paravector Space as Spacetime; Eigenspinors; Spin; Dirac Equation; Bell's Theorem; Qubits and Entanglement; Conclusions; References. PONS, Reed-Muller Codes, and Group Algebras.- Introduction; Analytic Theory of One-Dimensional PONS (Welti); Shapiro Sequences, Reed-Muller Codes, and Functional Equations; Group Algebras; Reformulation of Classical PONS; Group Algebra of Classical PONS; GroupAlgebra Convolution; Splitting Sequences; Historical Appendix on PONS; References. Clifford Algebras as a Unified Language.- Introduction; Clifford algebras as models of physical spaces; Clifford Algebras as Models of Perceptual Multicolor Spaces; Hypercomplex-Valued invariants of nD multicolor images; Conclusions; Acknowledgments; References. Recent Progress and Applications in Group FFTs.-Introduction; Finite group FFTs; FFTs for compact groups; Noncompact groups; References. Group Filters and Image Processing.- Introduction: Classical Digital Signal Processing; Abelian Group DSP; Nonabelian Groups; Examples; Group Transforms; Group Filters; Line-like Images; Acknowledgments; References. A Geometric Algebra Approach to Some Problems of Robot Vision.- Introduction; Local Analysis of Multi-dimensional Signals; Knowledge Based Neural Computing; Acknowledgments; References. Group Theory in Radar and Signal Processing.- Introduction; How a Radar Works; Representations; Representations and Radar; Ambiguity Functions; The Wide Band Case; References. Geometry of Paravector Space with Applications to Relativistic Physics.- Clifford Algebras in Physics; Paravector Space as Spacetime; Interpretation; Eigenspinors; Maxwell's Equation; Conclusions; References. A Unified Approach to Fourier-Clifford-Prometheus Transforms- Introduction; New construction of classical and multiparametric Prometheus transforms; PONS associated with Abelian groups; Fast Fourier-Prometheus Transforms; Conclusions; Acknowledgments; References. Fast Color Wavelet Transforms.- Introduction; Color images; Color Wavelet-Haar-Prometheus transforms; Edge detection and compression of color images; Conclusion; Acknowledgments; References. Selected Problems; Various Authors.- Transformations of Euclidean Space and Clifford Geometric; Algebra; References; On the Distribution of Kloosterman Sums on Polynomials over Quaternions; References; Harmonic Sliding Analysis Problems; References; Spectral Analysis under Conditions of Uncertainty; A Canonical Basis for Maximal Tori of the Reductive Centrizer of a Nilpotent Element; References; 6 The Quantum Chaos Conjecture References; Four Problems in Radar; Topic Index; Author Index