Queen bee shuttle

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Queen bee shuttle
Queen bee shuttle image
View animated image
View static image
Pattern type Shuttle
Oscillator
Number of cells 20
Bounding box 22 × 7
Period 30 (mod: Unknown)
Heat 17.9
Volatility 0.96 | Unknown
Kinetic symmetry Unspecified
Discovered by Bill Gosper
Year of discovery 1970

The queen bee shuttle (or basic shuttle[1]) is a period 30 shuttle oscillator in which a queen bee travels back and forth between two stabilizing ends. The shuttles were originally stabilized against one another in a square of eight shuttles, though there are now a number of known ways to stabilize the ends. Some simpler methods are shown here involving blocks; for a method involving an eater 1 see buckaroo. The queen bee shuttle is the basis of all known true period 30 guns (including the famous Gosper glider gun). It was found by Bill Gosper in 1970 and was the first period 30 oscillator to be found. It is the smallest known oscillator with period greater than 15.[2]

The cis-queen bee shuttle (shown to the right) and the trans-queen bee shuttle (shown below) are about the 18th and 19th most common naturally-occurring oscillators.[3]

Variations

The queen bee loop (or ouroboros bees), another form of the queen bee shuttle that was found in 1970 (also by Bill Gosper), is a closed loop made of four queen bees that clean up each other's beehives. It was forgotten about in many sources and independently rediscovered in 2008 by Nicolay Beluchenko.[4] It is also possible to create a partial loop oscillator consisting of two or three queen bees by removing one or two of the queen bees in the loop and placing two stabilizing blocks appropriately.

A queen bee loop
RLE: here
A partial queen bee loop with only three queen bees
RLE: here

Image gallery

File:Queenbee3.png
A slightly different queen bee shuttle, known as the trans-queen bee shuttle
Download RLE: click here
Queen bee shuttle predecessor made up of a pi-heptomino, two blinkers and two blocks. Found by Gosper in April 1992
RLE: here

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Basic shuttle". The Life Lexicon. Stephen Silver. Retrieved on June 11, 2009.
  2. ↑ "Class 2 Objects Catalog - Oscillators". Retrieved on April 8, 2009.
  3. ↑ Achim Flammenkamp (September 7, 2004). "Most seen natural occurring ash objects in Game of Life". Retrieved on January 15, 2009.
  4. ↑ H. Koenig (November 23, 2008). "New Small Period Oscillators". Game of Life News. Retrieved on June 3, 2009.

External links

Template:LinkWeisstein

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