A possible search program for finding new oscillators

For scripts to aid with computation or simulation in cellular automata.
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hotdogPi
Posts: 1587
Joined: August 12th, 2020, 8:22 pm

A possible search program for finding new oscillators

Post by hotdogPi » March 4th, 2021, 1:32 pm

This program (which hasn't been created yet) would search random still life (or still life + blinker) constellations plus spark(s) and see if they return the same constellation minus the spark(s), making sure that there's room for the sparker.

An example of a pattern that's already known, and has period 21, 24, 26, 27, 30, 32, and 36 oscillators from it:

Code: Select all

x = 14, y = 12, rule = B3/S23
3b2o$3b2o3$3b2o4b2o2bo$2bo2bo2bo2bo$2bo2bo2bo2bo$o2b2o4b2o3$9b2o$9b2o!
User:HotdogPi/My discoveries

Periods discovered: 5-16,⑱,⑳G,㉑G,㉒㉔㉕,㉗-㉛,㉜SG,㉞㉟㊱㊳㊵㊷㊹㊺㊽㊿,54G,55G,56,57G,60,62-66,68,70,73,74S,75,76S,80,84,88,90,96
100,02S,06,08,10,12,14G,16,17G,20,26G,28,38,47,48,54,56,72,74,80,92,96S
217,486,576

S: SKOP
G: gun

Sokwe
Moderator
Posts: 2645
Joined: July 9th, 2009, 2:44 pm

Re: A possible search program for finding new oscillators

Post by Sokwe » March 5th, 2021, 6:43 am

It might be helpful to understand where that example pattern came from. I believe it was discovered by Jason Summers using his spark-assisted agar program. My understanding is that the program worked by placing random symmetric soups on a torus and adding special fixed spark cells outside of the soup. The spark cells would stay on until the soup interacted with them, at which point they would turn off for a specified number of generations. A large number of the spark-assisted engines in life were found using this program. I don't know if the code was ever posted anywhere.

Also, I moved this topic to the scripts forum.
-Matthias Merzenich

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