Matrices on a point as the theory of everything

It is shown that the world line can be eliminated in the matrix quantum mechanics conjectured by Banks, Fischler, Shenker, and Susskind to describe the light-cone physics of M theory. The resulting matrix model has a form that suggests origins in the reduction to a point of a Yang-Mills theory. The reduction of the Nishino-Sezgin (10+2)-dimensional supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory to a point gives a matrix model with the appropriate features: Lorentz invariance in 9+1 dimensions, supersymmetry, and the correct number of physical degrees of freedom. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society