Cellular automaton supercolliders

Gliders in one-dimensional cellular automata are compact groups of non-quiescent and non-ether patterns (ether represents a periodic background) translating along automaton lattice. They are cellular automaton analogous of localizations or quasi-local collective excitations traveling in a spatially extended nonlinear medium. They can be considered as binary strings or symbols traveling along a one-dimensional ring, interacting with each other and changing their states, or symbolic values, as a result of interactions. We analyze what types of interaction occur between gliders traveling on a cellular automaton "cyclotron" and build a catalog of the most common reactions. We demonstrate that collisions between gliders emulate the basic types of interaction that occur between localizations in nonlinear media: fusion, elastic collision, and soliton-like collision. Computational outcomes of a swarm of gliders circling on a one-dimensional torus are analyzed via implementation of cyclic tag systems. © 2011 World Scientific Publishing Company