Large $N$ Phases of Chiral QCD_2

A matrix model is constructed which describes a chiral version of the large $N$ $U(N)$ gauge theory on a two-dimensional sphere of area $A$. This theory has three separate phases. The large area phase describes the associated chiral string theory. An exact expression for the free energy in the large area phase is used to derive a remarkably simple formula for the number of topologically inequivalent covering maps of a sphere with fixed branch points and degree $n$.