Herschel stopper
| Herschel stopper | |||||||
| View static image | |||||||
| Pattern type | Conduit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conduit type | Stable | ||||||
| Input | glider | ||||||
| Output | boat | ||||||
| Number of cells | 6 | ||||||
| Bounding box | 2 × 4 | ||||||
| Step | Unknown | ||||||
| Recovery time (ignoring FNG if any) |
Unknown | ||||||
| Minimum overclock period (ignoring FNG if any) |
Unknown | ||||||
| Discovered by | Dean Hickerson | ||||||
| Year of discovery | 1996 | ||||||
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A Herschel stopper is a method of cleanly suppressing a Herschel signal with an asynchronous boat-bit, discovered by Dean Hickerson in November 1996. In the infobox pattern, a ghost Herschel marks the location where an output signal will appear in cases where the boat-bit is not present. The first Herschel travels through the Herschel stopper site unaffected, but after the glider produces a boat-bit, the next Herschel collides with the boat and the two are mutually annihilated without affecting any of the nearby catalysts. Other boat-bit locations that allow for clean suppression of a Herschel are also known.
The term "Herschel stopper" is also occasionally used to refer to any mechanism that cleanly suppresses a Herschel. These are usually stable conduits that allow the Herschel's first natural glider to escape, so they are more commonly classified as converters. See SW-2.
External links
- Herschel stopper at the Life Lexicon