Quantum and classical aspects of deformed c = 1 strings Original Research Article

The quantum and classical aspects of a deformed c = 1 matrix model proposed by Jevicki and Yoneya are studied. String equations are formulated in the framework of the Toda lattice hierarchy. The Whittaker functions now play the role of generalized Airy functions in c < 1 strings. This matrix model has two distinct parameters. Identification of the string coupling constant is thereby not unique, and leads to several different perturbative interpretations of this model as a string theory. Two such possible interpretations are examined. In both cases, the classical limit of the string equations, which turns out to give a formal solution of Polchinskiʹs scattering equations, shows that the classical scattering amplitudes of massless tachyons are insensitive to deformations of the parameters in the matrix model.