No Arabic abstract
The searching for the stable patterns in the evolution of cellular automata is implemented using stochastic synchronization between the present structures of the system and its precedent configurations. For most of the known evolution rules with complex behavior a dynamic competition among all the possible stable patterns is established and no stationary regime is reached. For the particular rule coded by the decimal number 18, a self-synchronization phenomenon can be obtained, even when strong modifications to the synchronization method are applied.
A transition from asymmetric to symmetric patterns in time-dependent extended systems is described. It is found that one dimensional cellular automata, started from fully random initial conditions, can be forced to evolve into complex symmetrical patterns by stochastically coupling a proportion $p$ of pairs of sites located at equal distance from the center of the lattice. A nontrivial critical value of $p$ must be surpassed in order to obtain symmetrical patterns during the evolution. This strategy is able to classify the cellular automata rules -with complex behavior- between those that support time-dependent symmetric patterns and those which do not support such kind of patterns.
Cellular automata have been useful artificial models for exploring how relatively simple rules combined with spatial memory can give rise to complex emergent patterns. Moreover, studying the dynamics of how rules emerge under artificial selection for function has recently become a powerful tool for understanding how evolution can innovate within its genetic rule space. However, conventional cellular automata lack the kind of state feedback that is surely present in natural evolving systems. Each new generation of a population leaves an indelible mark on its environment and thus affects the selective pressures that shape future generations of that population. To model this phenomenon, we have augmented traditional cellular automata with state-dependent feedback. Rather than generating automata executions from an initial condition and a static rule, we introduce mappings which generate iteration rules from the cellular automaton itself. We show that these new automata contain disconnected regions which locally act like conventional automata, thus encapsulating multiple functions into one structure. Consequently, we have provided a new model for processes like cell differentiation. Finally, by studying the size of these regions, we provide additional evidence that the dynamics of self-reference may be critical to understanding the evolution of natural language. In particular, the rules of elementary cellular automata appear to be distributed in the same way as words in the corpus of a natural language.
In studying the predictability of emergent phenomena in complex systems, Israeli & Goldenfeld (Phys. Rev. Lett., 2004; Phys. Rev. E, 2006) showed how to coarse-grain (elementary) cellular automata (CA). Their algorithm for finding coarse-grainings of supercell size $N$ took doubly-exponential $2^{2^N}$-time, and thus only allowed them to explore supercell sizes $N leq 4$. Here we introduce a new, more efficient algorithm for finding coarse-grainings between any two given CA that allows us to systematically explore all elementary CA with supercell sizes up to $N=7$, and to explore individual examples of even larger supercell size. Our algorithm is based on a backtracking search, similar to the DPLL algorithm with unit propagation for the NP-complete problem of Boolean Satisfiability.
We compare several definitions for number-conserving cellular automata that we prove to be equivalent. A necessary and sufficient condition for cas to be number-conserving is proved. Using this condition, we give a linear-time algorithm to decide number-conservation. The dynamical behavior of number-conserving cas is studied and a classification that focuses on chaoticity is given.
Gauge symmetries play a fundamental role in Physics, as they provide a mathematical justification for the fundamental forces. Usually, one starts from a non-interactive theory which governs `matter, and features a global symmetry. One then extends the theory so as make the global symmetry into a local one (a.k.a gauge-invariance). We formalise a discrete counterpart of this process, known as gauge extension, within the Computer Science framework of Cellular Automata (CA). We prove that the CA which admit a relative gauge extension are exactly the globally symmetric ones (a.k.a the colour-blind). We prove that any CA admits a non-relative gauge extension. Both constructions yield universal gauge-invariant CA, but the latter allows for a first example where the gauge extension mediates interactions within the initial CA.