Difference between revisions of "Emulator"

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m (add 58P10 dual middleweight emulator (and thereby new row), rlifesrc has been unable to find a monomerisation thus far (apparently it is in the oscthread_stdin but I cannot find it in the forums, a citation of its discovery would be useful))
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| 9 || [[Worker bee]]{{refn|group="n"|While a worker bee does produce two cells that are three cells apart orthogonally that die during the next generation from underpopulation, each of those cells has one neighbor instead of zero, those neighbor cells do not die right away, and they contribute to other cells being born in the same general location as the spark by the next generation, so a worker bee can only function as a lightweight emulator in certain contexts.}} || <span style=color:red>none known</span> || [[104P9]]
| 9 || [[Worker bee]]{{refn|group="n"|While a worker bee does produce two cells that are three cells apart orthogonally that die during the next generation from underpopulation, each of those cells has one neighbor instead of zero, those neighbor cells do not die right away, and they contribute to other cells being born in the same general location as the spark by the next generation, so a worker bee can only function as a lightweight emulator in certain contexts.}} || <span style=color:red>none known</span> || [[104P9]]
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|10 || || {{LinkCatagolue|xp10_03pa39q2oie0eio2q93ap3z321w23y532w123|name=58P10|style=raw}}{{refn|group="n"|Is in dual form as a dimer, not known to be monomerisable without reduced clearance.<!--would appreciate investigation-->}}
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Revision as of 04:21, 11 February 2024

An emulator is one of the three period-4 oscillators that produce sparks similar to those produced by a lightweight spaceship, middleweight spaceship, or heavyweight spaceship. They are the lightweight emulator, middleweight emulator, and heavyweight emulator respectively. It is possible to construct larger emulators, but they require stabilizing objects to suppress their non-sparks and so are of little use (except for the overweight T-nosed p4). The three standard emulators were discovered by Robert Wainwright in June 1980. All of the p4 oscillators can eat gliders with their sparks.

"Emulator" has occasionally been used to refer to higher-period oscillators that produce sparks similar to other spaceships, but "volcano" is more commonly used specifically for period 5, or the generic "sparker" for other periods.

Known emulators at periods below ten
Period Lightweight Middleweight Heavyweight
4 Lightweight emulator Middleweight emulator Heavyweight emulator
5 Toaster Middleweight volcano

86P5, 148P5, 256P5

6 262P6 98P6, 84P6[n 1] 64P6, 92P6, 103P6
7 Meatball , 34P7 120P7[n 2] 754P7
8 Kok's galaxy[n 3] 209P8 180P8
9 Worker bee[n 4] none known 104P9
10 58P10[n 5]

Half-emulator

A half-emulator has one side spark but not the other.

Known half-emulators at periods below eight
Period Middleweight Heavyweight
4 Ellison p4 MW emulator Ellison p4 HW emulator
5 63P5 p5 used in p55 gun[n 6]
6 71P6 (Extrementhusiast's p6), 78P6 104P6[1][n 7]
7 121P7, 168P7 none known

Period-4 emulator collection

On November 4, 2021, JP21 created a collection of p4 emulators with various height, width, clearance, and presence or absence of side sparks on this page in the oscillator discussion thread on the forums.[n 8]

Notes

  1. Found by JP21
  2. While 120P7 does produce three cells connected by knights' moves in a certain way, all three of which die by the next generation, one of the cells not in the domino spark has one neighbor instead of zero, that neighbor cells does not die right away, and it contributes to another cell being born in the same general location as the spark by the next generation, so 120P7 can only function as a middleweight emulator in certain contexts.
  3. While Kok's galaxy does produce two cells that are three cells apart orthogonally that die during the next generation from underpopulation, one of those cells has one neighbor instead of zero, and that neighbor cell does not die right away, so Kok's galaxy can only function as a lightweight emulator in certain contexts.
  4. While a worker bee does produce two cells that are three cells apart orthogonally that die during the next generation from underpopulation, each of those cells has one neighbor instead of zero, those neighbor cells do not die right away, and they contribute to other cells being born in the same general location as the spark by the next generation, so a worker bee can only function as a lightweight emulator in certain contexts.
  5. Is in dual form as a dimer, not known to be monomerisable without reduced clearance.
  6. There is a lower-clearance variant with a 1-cell-thinner bounding box, shown in p5 quinti-Snark
  7. Could be described as Extrementhusiast's other p6, to disambiguate between it and the 71P6
  8. JP21 (November 4, 2021). Re: Oscillator Discussion Thread (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums

External links

  1. Extrementhusiast (April 24, 2023). Re: Oscillator Discussion Thread (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums