2D HIGHER SPIN GRAVITY AND THE MULTIMATRIX MODELS

We quantize W-gravity coupled to matter fields in the conformal gauge and obtain the critical exponents. We demonstrate explicitly how the generators of the W-algebra are described by an infinite set of conserved charges of the KdV hierarchy. We obtain the generalized hamiltonian equation of motion and show that it contains the class of universal differential equations of the matrix models. Thus we propose that these models describe pure W-gravity theories of the A-type. Consequently we give a new set of universal equations that correspond to other types of W-gravity theories. © 1990.