Queen bee shuttle

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Queen bee shuttle
x = 22, y = 7, rule = B3/S23 9bo$7bobo$6bobo11b2o$2o3bo2bo11b2o$2o4bobo$7bobo$9bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART ]] #C [[ HEIGHT 500 THUMBSIZE 3 ZOOM 21 GPS 10 ]]
Pattern type Oscillator
Oscillator type Shuttle
Family Queen bee shuttle
Number of cells 20
Bounding box 22 × 7
Frequency class 28.4
Period 30 (mod: 15)
Heat 17.9
Volatility 0.96 | 0.96
Kinetic symmetry n.e
Discovered by Bill Gosper
Robert W. April
Richard P. Howell
Year of discovery 1970

The queen bee shuttle (or basic shuttle[1]) can refer to one of two very closely related period-30 shuttle oscillators in which a queen bee travels back and forth between two blocks (see Isomers). It was found by Bill Gosper in 1970[2] and was the first period-30 oscillator to be found. In terms of its minimum population of 20 cells, it is the smallest known oscillator with period greater than 15.[3]

The queen bee shuttle is the basis of Gosper glider gun, the first known and most compact gun in Game of Life.

Isomers

There are two possible isomers for the queen bee shuttle; the version shown in the infobox to the right being the "trans"-version.

Cis-queen bee shuttle

x = 22, y = 7, rule = B3/S23 9bo$7bobo$6bobo$2o3bo2bo11b2o$2o4bobo11b2o$7bobo$9bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 12 GPS 10 AUTOSTART ]]
Cis-queen bee shuttle; blocks are "on the same side" (kinetic symmetry n-e)
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RLE: here Plaintext: here
Catagoluehere

Trans-queen bee shuttle

x = 22, y = 7, rule = B3/S23 9bo$7bobo$6bobo11b2o$2o3bo2bo11b2o$2o4bobo$7bobo$9bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 12 GPS 10 AUTOSTART ]]
Trans-queen bee shuttle; blocks are "on different sides" (kinetic symmetry n.e)
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RLE: here Plaintext: here
Catagoluehere

Comparison

Image Name Info Kinetic symmetry apgcode Cost in gliders
Cisqueenbeeshuttle.png Cis-queen bee shuttle Blocks are "on the same side" n-e xp30_w33z8kqrqk8zzzw33 5
Transqueenbeeshuttle.png Trans-queen bee shuttle Blocks are "on different sides" n.e xp30_w33z8kqrqk8zzzx33 5

Glider synthesis

There are a few 4-glider components that turn any one-sided stabilization of the queen bee, such as a block, into a queen bee shuttle variant, yielding 6-glider syntheses for both common variants. The synthesis of the cis-queen bee shuttle was later reduced to 5 gliders in July 2020,[4] and an alternate 6-glider synthesis of the trans-queen bee shuttle has also been found.[5] An alternate 5-glider synthesis of the cis-queen bee shuttle was found in March 2023.[6][7] The trans-queen bee shuttle was reduced to 5 gliders by Carson Cheng on May 28, 2024.[8]

x = 116, y = 102, rule = B3/S23 18b2o38b2o38b2o$18b2o38b2o38b2o4$55bo$56bo$54b3o2$92bo$58bo34bo$56bobo 32b3o$57b2o$97bo$98b2o$20bo76b2o$21bo$19b3o$99b2o$57b2o41b2o$21b2o33bo bo40bo$22b2o34bo$21bo$53b2o$52bobo$54bo$12b2o$13b2o77b2o$12bo78bobo$ 93bo9$b2o$obo$2bo15b2o38b2o38b2o$18b2o38b2o38b2o7$91bobo$92b2o$92bo2$ 95b2o$54b2o38bobo$55b2o2bo36bo$54bo3b2o41b2o$58bobo40bobo$101bo$54b2o$ 26b2o25bobo$25b2o28bo$27bo$13b2o$12bobo47bo$14bo46b2o$61bobo30b3o$96bo $39b3o53bo$39bo$6b2o32bo$5bobo$7bo12$25bo$14b2o8b2o$13bobo8bobo37b3o$ 15bo48bo$65bo$50b2o$51b2o45b3o10b3o$50bo49bo10bo$87b2o10bo12bo$79bo6bo bo$78b2o8bo$10b2o66bobo$11b2o15b2o84b2o$10bo16b2o84b2o$29bo10b2o73bo$ 41b2o$40bo$18b2o38b2o38b2o$18b2o38b2o38b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ ZOOM 4 WIDTH 600 HEIGHT 600 ]]
A collection of nine such 4-glider components mentioned above, turning a block into a queen bee shuttle
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RLE: here Plaintext: here

Variations

The shuttles were originally stabilized against one another in a square of eight shuttles, but many other stabilisations of the queen bee are now known, such as buckaroo (which utilises an eater 1), hectic (which relies on gliders) and a thin one (allowing a 20-cell wide footprint with an unnamed still life) and the thinnest known one (allowing an 18-cell-wide (albeit 25-cell-tall) one using other queen bees), the latter two of which are useful in bounding box reductions.

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.[9] 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.

12bo11b$12bobo9b$13bobo8b$13bo2bo7b$13bobo8b$12bobo9b$12bo11b$3bo20b$ 2bobo19b$bo3bo18b$2b3o19b$2o3b2o17b$17b2o3b2o$19b3o2b$18bo3bob$19bobo 2b$20bo3b$11bo12b$9bobo12b$8bobo13b$7bo2bo13b$8bobo13b$9bobo12b$11bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 12 ]]
A queen bee loop
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RLE: here Plaintext: here
Catagoluehere
20b2o2b$20b2o2b$2b2o20b$2b2o20b4$3bo20b$2bobo19b$bo3bo18b$2b3o19b$2o3b 2o17b$17b2o3b2o$19b3o2b$18bo3bob$19bobo2b$20bo3b$11bo12b$9bobo12b$8bob o13b$7bo2bo13b$8bobo13b$9bobo12b$11bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 12 ]]
A partial queen bee loop with only three queen bees
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RLE: here Plaintext: here
Catagoluehere

Occurrence

See also: List of common oscillators

The cis-queen bee shuttle and the trans-queen bee shuttle are the 18th and 19th most common naturally-occurring oscillators in Achim Flammenkamp's census.[10] On Catagolue, it is the most common period 30 oscillator, with all other natural oscillators of that period featuring it in some form.[11]

The trans version is about 2% more common than the cis version on Catagolue.

Catagolue has a dedicated badge which will be given out to anyone who discovers a new variant of this oscillator.

Gallery

x = 35, y = 7, rule = B3/S23 2o31b2o$2o31b2o3$16b3o$5b3o8bobo8b3o$16bobo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ]]
Queen bee shuttle dimer predecessor made up of a pi-heptomino, two blinkers and two blocks. Found by Gosper in April 1992.
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RLE: here Plaintext: here
x = 33, y = 22, rule = B3/S23 9bo13bo$8bobo11bobo$5bo2bo2bo9bob2o2bo$5b3o4bo7bobo2b3o$8b3obo7bob2o$ 3b5obobo9bo3b5o$2bo6bo13bobo4bo$o2bo2bo2b5obobob8o2bo2bo$2ob4obo3bob2o b2obo5bo2bob2o$3bo2bo3bo11bo3bo2bo$3bo2bo2b3o9b4ob4o$bobo2b3o5b2o10bo 2bobo$b2o4bobo4bobo6bo6b2o$5bo2bobo6bo4bobobo$5bo3bo4bo2bo5bo3b2o$4bo 12bo$2bo11bobo12bo$3bo10b2o9bo3bobo$2obo2b3o15bo2bobo$3bob3o16bo2bobob 2o$bobo22bo2bo$2b2o25b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ GPS 13 THUMBSIZE 2 ]]
A period-26 version of the queen bee shuttle, found by James Pascua based on a partial by Entity Valkyrie[12]
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RLE: here Plaintext: here
Catagoluehere
x = 22, y = 17, rule = B3/S23 13bo$12bobo$2o9bo3b2o3b2o$2o9bo3b2o3b2o$11bo3b2o$12bobo$13bo$19bo$19bo $19bo$8bo$7bobo$5b2o3bo$2o3b2o3bo9b2o$2o3b2o3bo9b2o$7bobo$8bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]]
The shuttle produces a spark at the blocks that can be used to rephase a blinker; two must be used to make a functioning oscillator from this reaction to prevent formation of a deadly traffic light.
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RLE: here Plaintext: here
Catagoluehere

References

  1. "Basic shuttle". The Life Lexicon. Stephen Silver. Retrieved on June 11, 2009.
  2. Dean Hickerson's oscillator stamp collection. Retrieved on March 14, 2020.
  3. "Class 2 Objects Catalog - Oscillators". Retrieved on April 8, 2009.
  4. Ian07 (July 18, 2020). Re: Randomly enumerating glider syntheses (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  5. Carson Cheng (June 15, 2022). Re: Synthesising Oscillators (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  6. Carson Cheng (March 25, 2023). Re: Synthesising Oscillators (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  7. shinjuku (#4000837544) (March 25, 2023). Job triggered by Adam P. Goucher at GitLab Catagolue project.
  8. Carson Cheng (May 28, 2024). Re: Synthesising Oscillators (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  9. New Small Period Oscillators at Game of Life News. Posted by Heinrich Koenig on November 23, 2008.
  10. Achim Flammenkamp (September 7, 2004). "Most seen natural occurring ash objects in Game of Life". Retrieved on January 15, 2009.
  11. Adam P. Goucher. "Statistics". Catagolue. Retrieved on October 27, 2018.
  12. James Pascua (February 8, 2021). Re: Oscillator Discussion Thread (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums

External links