Elementary Cellular Automata#

AUTHORS:

  • Travis Scrimshaw (2018-07-07): Initial version

class sage.dynamics.cellular_automata.elementary.ElementaryCellularAutomata(rule, width=None, initial_state=None, boundary=(0, 0))#

Bases: SageObject

Elementary cellular automata.

An elementary cellular automaton is a 1-dimensional cellular deterministic automaton with two possible values: \(X := \{0,1\}\). A state is therefore a sequence \(s \in X^n\), and the evolution of a state \(s \to s'\) is given for \(s'_i\) by looking at the values at positions \(s_{i-1}, s_i, s_{i+1}\) and is determined by the rule \(0 \leq r \leq 255\) as follows. Consider the binary representation \(r = b_7 b_6 b_5 b_4 b_3 b_2 b_1 b_0\). Then, we define \(s'_i = b_j\), where \(j = s_{i-1} s_i s_{i+1}\) is the corresponding binary representation. In other words, the value \(s'_i\) is given according to the following table:

\[\begin{split}\begin{array}{cccccccc} 111 & 110 & 101 & 100 & 011 & 010 & 001 & 000 \\ b_7 & b_6 & b_5 & b_4 & b_3 & b_2 & b_1 & b_0 \end{array}\end{split}\]

We consider the boundary values of \(s_0 = s_{n+1} = 0\).

INPUT:

  • rule – an integer between 0 and 255

  • width – (optional) the width of the ECA

  • initial_state – (optional) the initial state given as a list of 0 and 1

  • boundary – (default: (0, 0)) a tuple of the left and right boundary conditions respectively or None for periodic boundary conditions

Either width or initial_state must be given. If width is less than the length of initial_state, then initial_state has 0 prepended so the resulting list has length width. If only width is given, then the initial state is constructed randomly.

The boundary conditions can either be 0, 1, or a function that takes an integer n corresponding to the state and outputs either 0 or 1.

EXAMPLES:

We construct an example with rule \(r = 90\) using \(n = 20\). The initial state consists of a single \(1\) in the rightmost entry:

sage: ECA = cellular_automata.Elementary(90, width=20, initial_state=[1])
sage: ECA.evolve(20)
sage: ascii_art(ECA)
                   X
                  X
                 X X
                X
               X X
              X   X
             X X X X
            X
           X X
          X   X
         X X X X
        X       X
       X X     X X
      X   X   X   X
     X X X X X X X X
    X
   X X
  X   X
 X X X X
X       X
 X     X X

We now construct it with different boundary conditions. The first is with the left boundary being \(1\) (instead of \(0\)):

sage: ECA = cellular_automata.Elementary(90, width=20, initial_state=[1], boundary=(1,0))
sage: ECA.evolve(20)
sage: ascii_art(ECA)
                   X
X                 X
XX               X X
 XX             X
 XXX           X X
 X XX         X   X
   XXX       X X X X
X XX XX     X
X XX XXX   X X
X XX X XX X   X
X XX   XX  X X X
X XXX XXXXX     X
X X X X   XX   X X
X      X XXXX X   X
XX    X  X  X  X X X
 XX  X XX XX XX
 XXXX  XX XX XXX
 X  XXXXX XX X XX
  XXX   X XX   XXX
XXX XX X  XXX XX XX
  X XX  XXX X XX XXX

Now we consider the right boundary as being \(1\) on every third value:

sage: def rbdry(n): return 1 if n % 3 == 0 else 0
sage: ECA = cellular_automata.Elementary(90, width=20, initial_state=[1], boundary=(0,rbdry))
sage: ECA.evolve(20)
sage: ascii_art(ECA)
                   X
                  X
                 X X
                X  X
               X XX
              X  XXX
             X XXX
            X  X XX
           X XX  XXX
          X  XXXXX
         X XXX   XX
        X  X XX XXXX
       X XX  XX X
      X  XXXXXX  X
     X XXX    XXX X
    X  X XX  XX X
   X XX  XXXXXX  X
  X  XXXXX    XXX X
 X XXX   XX  XX X
X  X XX XXXXXXX  X
 XX  XX X     XXX X

Lastly we consider it with periodic boundary condition:

sage: ECA = cellular_automata.Elementary(90, width=20, initial_state=[1], boundary=None)
sage: ECA.evolve(20)
sage: ascii_art(ECA)
                   X
X                 X
 X               X
X X             X X
   X           X
  X X         X X
 X   X       X   X
X X X X     X X X X
       X   X
      X X X X
     X       X
    X X     X X
   X   X   X   X
  X X X X X X X X
 X               X
X X             X X
   X           X
  X X         X X
 X   X       X   X
X X X X     X X X X
       X   X

We show the local evolution rules for rule \(110\):

sage: for t in cartesian_product([[0,1],[0,1],[0,1]]):
....:     ECA = cellular_automata.Elementary(110, list(t))
....:     ECA.print_states(2)
....:     print('#')


#
  X
 XX
#
 X
XX
#
 XX
XXX
#
X
X
#
X X
XXX
#
XX
XX
#
XXX
X X
#

We construct an elementary cellular automaton with a random initial state with \(n = 15\) and see the state after \(50\) evolutions:

sage: ECA = cellular_automata.Elementary(26, width=25)
sage: ECA.print_state(50)  # random
    X X   X   X X X

We construct and plot a larger example with rule \(60\):

sage: ECA = cellular_automata.Elementary(60, width=200)
sage: ECA.evolve(200)
sage: ECA.plot()                                                                # needs sage.plot
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../../_images/elementary-1.svg

With periodic boundary condition for rule \(90\):

sage: ECA = cellular_automata.Elementary(90, initial_state=[1]+[0]*254+[1], boundary=None)
sage: ECA.evolve(256)
sage: ECA.plot()                                                                # needs sage.plot
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
../../../_images/elementary-2.svg

REFERENCES:

Wikipedia article Elementary_cellular_automaton

evolve(number=None)#

Evolve self.

INPUT:

  • number – (optional) the number of times to perform the evolution

EXAMPLES:

sage: ECA = cellular_automata.Elementary(110, [1,0,0,1,1,0,0,1,0,1])
sage: ascii_art(ECA)
X  XX  X X
sage: ECA.evolve()
sage: ascii_art(ECA)
X  XX  X X
X XXX XXXX
sage: ECA.evolve(10)
sage: ascii_art(ECA)
X  XX  X X
X XXX XXXX
XXX XXX  X
X XXX X XX
XXX XXXXXX
X XXX    X
XXX X   XX
X XXX  XXX
XXX X XX X
X XXXXXXXX
XXX      X
X X     XX
plot(number=None)#

Return a plot of self.

INPUT:

  • number – the number of states to plot

EXAMPLES:

sage: ECA = cellular_automata.Elementary(110, width=256)
sage: ECA.evolve(256)
sage: ECA.plot()                                                            # needs sage.plot
Graphics object consisting of 1 graphics primitive
print_state(number=None)#

Print the state number.

INPUT:

  • number – (default: the current state) the state to print

EXAMPLES:

sage: ECA = cellular_automata.Elementary(110, width=10,
....:                                    initial_state=[1,0,0,1,1,0,1])
sage: ECA.print_state(15)
X  X XXXXX
sage: ECA.print_state(10)
X    X  XX
sage: ECA.print_state(20)
X      XXX
sage: for i in range(11):
....:     ECA.print_state(i)
   X  XX X
  XX XXXXX
 XXXXX   X
XX   X  XX
XX  XX XXX
XX XXXXX X
XXXX   XXX
X  X  XX X
X XX XXXXX
XXXXXX   X
X    X  XX
print_states(number=None)#

Print the first num states of self.

Note

If the number of states computed for self is less than num, then this evolves the system using the default time evolution.

INPUT:

  • number – the number of states to print

EXAMPLES:

sage: ECA = cellular_automata.Elementary(110, width=10,
....:                                    initial_state=[1,0,0,1,1,0,1])
sage: ECA.print_states(10)
   X  XX X
  XX XXXXX
 XXXXX   X
XX   X  XX
XX  XX XXX
XX XXXXX X
XXXX   XXX
X  X  XX X
X XX XXXXX
XXXXXX   X