  The twisted Eguchi-Kawai (TEK) model provides a non-perturbative definition
of noncommutative Yang-Mills theory: the continuum limit is approached at large
$N$ by performing suitable double scaling limits, in which non-planar
contributions are no longer suppressed. We consider here the two-dimensional
case, trying to recover within this framework the exact results recently
obtained by means of Morita equivalence. We present a rather explicit
construction of classical gauge theories on noncommutative toroidal lattice for
general topological charges. After discussing the limiting procedures to
recover the theory on the noncommutative torus and on the noncommutative plane,
we focus our attention on the classical solutions of the related TEK models. We
solve the equations of motion and we find the configurations having finite
action in the relevant double scaling limits. They can be explicitly described
in terms of twist-eaters and they exactly correspond to the instanton solutions
that are seen to dominate the partition function on the noncommutative torus.
Fluxons on the noncommutative plane are recovered as well. We also discuss how
the highly non-trivial structure of the exact partition function can emerge
from a direct matrix model computation. The quantum consistency of the TEK
formulation is eventually checked by computing Wilson loops in a particular
limit.
