Kazakov-Migdal Induced Gauge Theory and the Coupling of 2D Quantum Gravity to D=1 Matter

Recently Kazakov and Migdal proposed a new approach to the large $N$ limit of SU(N) gauge theories which could hopefully describe the asymptotically free fixed point of QCD in 4 dimensions. In this contribution we review the exact solution of their model in the case of a $d=1$ compactified lattice and its connection with the partition function of the vortex-free sector of the d=1 compactified bosonic string. Some new results on the addition of a linear term in the K-M model and on the SU(N) restriction of the general U(N) model are also presented.