Spark

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A spark is a pattern that dies. The term is typically used to describe a collection of cells periodically thrown off by an oscillator or spaceship, but other dying patterns, particularly those consisting of only one or two cells (such as those produced by certain glider collisions, for example), are also described as sparks. For examples of small sparks see unix and heavyweight spaceship.

b2o5b$b2o5b2$bo6b$obo5b$o2bo2b2o$4bob2o$2b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 AUTOSTART GPS 3 ]]
The two sparks of unix
(click above to open LifeViewer)
RLE: here Plaintext: here

Long-lived sparks

Seven sparks that are longer-lived are shown below:

  • Top left: Very common, although not that long-lived (7 generations). Note that the longest-lived spark in this list goes through this phase near the end.
  • Top middle left: The table, which becomes the line-of-six spark in three generations and dies twelve later, for a total lifespan of 15.
  • Top middle right: An 8-tick predecessor of the phi spark, which is very common. The phi spark lasts 9 generations, giving a total of 17 generations. This is not the only way a phi spark can form.
  • Top far right: A fairly common unnamed sequence that dies out in 16-20 generations depending on the phase it enters the sequence. It does not get large enough to qualify as an object in the list of common evolutionary sequences.
  • Bottom left: A common way for a c/2 frontend to die, resulting in an edgeshot spark. The block isn't the only thing that can perturb the B-heptomino. In the form shown, it lasts 21 generations.
  • Bottom middle left: The Z-hexomino, which lasts 45 generations before dying completely. It is only common in rotationally symmetric soups.
  • Bottom middle right: A two-glider collision that lasts 94 generations before dying completely.
  • Bottom right: The original diehard. The version shown below lasts 137 generations, but patterns often enter later in the sequence. It is moderately common.
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The seven sparks described above
(click above to open LifeViewer)
RLE: here Plaintext: here

There is also a large symmetric spark that arises from a 8-cell pattern[1] consisting of two Ts placed one cell apart. This spark can be harnessed to create a glider rake, one of which is included with Golly's basic rake examples.

Sparker

A sparker is an oscillator or spaceship that produces sparks.[2]

Sparkers can produce a variety of different sparks:[3] A reference collection of oscillating sparkers up to period 16 can be found on this forum thread.

  • Dot: A single detached bit at an edge.
    • Edge bit: A detached dot spark caused by the birth of three cells in a line, e.g. middleweight volcano.
    • Corner bit/diagonal bit: A detached dot spark caused by the birth of three cells that form a pre-block-like shape, e.g. blocker.
    • Fountain bit: A dot spark with no other bits in the row behind it, e.g. fountain, or superfountain if there are no live cells in the next two rows.
  • Domino: Two orthogonally connected bits at an edge, detached from the rest of an oscillator.
    • Horizontal domino: A domino spark parallel to the edge it appears on, e.g. heavyweight volcano.
    • Vertical domino: A domino spark perpendicular to the edge it appears on. Oscillators that make these are called "pipsquirters", e.g. pipsquirter 1.
    • Delayed domino: A domino spark where one bit appears first, and the other is added later, e.g. figure eight.
    • Fountain domino: A domino spark with no other bits in the two rows behind it, e.g. 258P3.
  • Duoplet: Two diagonally connected detached bits at a corner, e.g. Merzenich's p31. Historically sometimes also called a "diagonal domino", but it is not a polyomino.
    • Non-reflecting duoplet: A duoplet spark that is incapable of reflecting gliders, e.g. 41P7.2.
    • Reflecting duoplet: A duoplet spark that is capable of reflecting gliders, e.g. 34P14 shuttle.
  • Banana spark: A three-bit spark capable of reflecting gliders, e.g. buckaroo.
  • Finger: Like a vertical domino, but the domino is attached orthogonally to something, e.g. T-nosed p4.
  • Thumb: Like a corner bit, but the dot is diagonally attached to something, e.g. Thumb 1.
  • Obo spark: two dot sparks separated by one empty cell. This often has a 1-generation predecessor of a 3 × 3 square with two corners missing, such as in Beluchenko's p40 and p76 pi-heptomino hassler.

Sparkers are often referred to by their type of spark. For example, dot sparker and domino sparker. David Raucci has coined the term functional dot sparker for sparkers that are not dot sparkers but can act like one, e.g. vertical dominoes, duoplets and thumb sparkers.[4]

Strength of sparkers

A sparker oscillator can be considered "strong", "moderate" or "weak" depending on its relation to the rest of the oscillator. This does not necessarily correlate to how accessible the spark is, because examples like 101 which have very inaccessible sparks are still considered "strong" under the following classification scheme:

  • "Strong": the oscillator creates a spark that is a separate island, and the oscillator is not affected if the spark is removed, e.g. unix, blocker and middleweight volcano.
  • "Moderate": the oscillator creates a spark that is a separate island, but the spark is still required for the oscillator to survive, e.g. mold, fumarole and figure eight.
  • "Weak": the oscillator includes one or more cells at its edge that remain connected to the oscillator, but can still be used to catalyze other nearby patterns, e.g. caterer, T-nosed p4 and thumb 1.

Smoke

Smoke is debris that is fairly long-lived but eventually dies out completely. Thus, it is basically a large spark, but the term is used especially when talking about the output from a spaceship (as in a smoking ship).[5]

Tail spark

A tail spark is a spark that appears at the back of a spaceship.[6] For example, there is a one-bit tail spark at the back of a lightweight spaceship, middleweight spaceship, and heavyweight spaceship in their less dense phases.

Belly spark

The belly spark is the part of a middleweight spaceship's or heavyweight spaceship's spark that is not its tail spark.[7]

See also

References

  1. Headerless RLE: bo3bo$3ob3o!
  2. "Sparker". The Life Lexicon. Stephen Silver. Retrieved on May 24, 2009.
  3. Sparkers at Mark D. Niemiec's Life Page
  4. David Raucci (July 10, 2022). Re: Thread for basic questions (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  5. "Smoke". The Life Lexicon. Stephen Silver. Retrieved on June 10, 2009.
  6. "Tail spark". The Life Lexicon. Stephen Silver. Retrieved on May 21, 2009.
  7. "Spark". The Life Lexicon. Stephen Silver. Retrieved on May 14, 2016.

External links