Covariant quantization of the Volovich-Katanaev model (Q1567903)

Modern superstring theories have attracted much attention from many points of view and have significant impact in other fields as well: two dimensional gravity, supergravity. Study of lower dimensional models result in better understanding of classical and quantum aspects of higher-dimensional theories. One of the 2-dimensional gravity theories being discussed intensively now from both the classical as also quantum viewpoints, is the Volovich-Katanaev (VK) model invented about a decade ago. This particular model possesses a number of special merits to it having been proposed in the framework of the bosonic string theory with dynamic geometry, which would help in overcoming certain difficulties inherent in the original string theories. The VK model admits of solutions with constant curvature and zero torsion and includes other 2-dimensional gravity models also. The paper gives in section 2, the explicit model of two-dimensional gravity with dynamic torsion, which is followed by a description of quantization of the model in section 3 using two distinct Lagrangian approaches. Altogether, there are 30 main equations and 26 direct references to the literature concerned.