Vex

Vex
x = 13, y = 21, rule = B3/S23:T32,100 6bo$6bo$6bo5$2bo7bo$2ob2o3b2ob2o$2bo7bo2$2bo7bo$2ob2o3b2ob2o$2bo7bo5$ 6bo$6bo$6bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART ZOOM 10 GPS 10 ]]
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Pattern type	Wick
Period	41
Speed	Unknown
Discovered by	Achim Flammenkamp
Year of discovery	Unknown
Rules Outer-totalistic rules B3/S23 – unknown # of rules Unknown
Pattern files Plaintext vex.cells RLE vex.rle

Vex (or simply the p41 wick) is a period-41 wick discovered by Achim Flammenkamp.

As of February 2023, no period-41 oscillators are known to exist on Conway's Game of Life. A vast number of attempts to create such an oscillator have involved attempted stabilisations of this wick, with no resounding success.

Stabilisation attempts

As of February 2023, the only successful stabilisations of this wick come from glider streams coming from pseudo-period guns, resulting in an oscillator with an overall period of 82. Specialised rules allowing for non-vanilla Life behaviour such as StateInvestigator have permitted period-41 stabilisations.

Many, many stabilisation attempts exist where the catalyst or would-be fencepost which is used ends up only being a single cell off from its previous initial state, in such a way that it cannot function the second time round. More traditional attempts at stabilisation through the use of fishhooks do not rephase the wick correctly, leading to rapid deterioration.

Other interactions

The vex is capable of pushing two beehives. Multiple phase offsets can be used as the beehives remain stable for a considerable length of time.

See also

• Almost knightship, another incomplete partial result