W-Infinity Symmetry of the Nambu-Goto String in 4 Dimensions

We consider a bosonic string propagating in 4--dim Minkowski space. We show that in the orthonormal gauge the classical system exhibits a hidden $W_{\infty}$ chiral symmetry, arising from the equivalence of its transverse modes with the $SU(2)/U(1)$ coset model defined on the string world--sheet. Generalizations to other string backgrounds are proposed. We also define a Liouville--like transformation that maps solutions of the $SU(2)/U(1)$ coset model into the solution space of two decoupled Liouville theories. Inverting this transformation, however, remains an open problem.