Two Dimensional QCD coupled to Adjoint Matter and String Theory

We study $2d$ QCD coupled to fermions in the adjoint representation of the gauge group $SU(N)$ at large $N$, and its relation to string theory. It is shown that the model undergoes a deconfinement transition at a finite temperature (analogous to the Hagedorn transition in string theory), with certain winding modes in the Euclidean time direction turning tachyonic at high temperature. The theory is supersymmetric for a certain ratio of quark mass and gauge coupling. For other values of that ratio, supersymmetry is softly broken. The spectrum of bound states contains an infinite number of approximately linear Regge trajectories, approaching at large mass $M$, $\alpha^\prime M^2=\sum_i i l_i$ $(l_i\in{\bf Z_+})$. Thus, the theory exhibits an exponentially growing density of bosonic and fermionic states at high energy. We discuss these results in light of string expectations.