1,250 research outputs found
Communication Complexity and Intrinsic Universality in Cellular Automata
The notions of universality and completeness are central in the theories of
computation and computational complexity. However, proving lower bounds and
necessary conditions remains hard in most of the cases. In this article, we
introduce necessary conditions for a cellular automaton to be "universal",
according to a precise notion of simulation, related both to the dynamics of
cellular automata and to their computational power. This notion of simulation
relies on simple operations of space-time rescaling and it is intrinsic to the
model of cellular automata. Intrinsinc universality, the derived notion, is
stronger than Turing universality, but more uniform, and easier to define and
study. Our approach builds upon the notion of communication complexity, which
was primarily designed to study parallel programs, and thus is, as we show in
this article, particulary well suited to the study of cellular automata: it
allowed to show, by studying natural problems on the dynamics of cellular
automata, that several classes of cellular automata, as well as many natural
(elementary) examples, could not be intrinsically universal
Intrinsic universality and the computational power of self-assembly
This short survey of recent work in tile self-assembly discusses the use of
simulation to classify and separate the computational and expressive power of
self-assembly models. The journey begins with the result that there is a single
universal tile set that, with proper initialization and scaling, simulates any
tile assembly system. This universal tile set exhibits something stronger than
Turing universality: it captures the geometry and dynamics of any simulated
system. From there we find that there is no such tile set in the
noncooperative, or temperature 1, model, proving it weaker than the full tile
assembly model. In the two-handed or hierarchal model, where large assemblies
can bind together on one step, we encounter an infinite set, of infinite
hierarchies, each with strictly increasing simulation power. Towards the end of
our trip, we find one tile to rule them all: a single rotatable flipable
polygonal tile that can simulate any tile assembly system. It seems this could
be the beginning of a much longer journey, so directions for future work are
suggested.Comment: In Proceedings MCU 2013, arXiv:1309.104
On the Equivalence of Cellular Automata and the Tile Assembly Model
In this paper, we explore relationships between two models of systems which
are governed by only the local interactions of large collections of simple
components: cellular automata (CA) and the abstract Tile Assembly Model (aTAM).
While sharing several similarities, the models have fundamental differences,
most notably the dynamic nature of CA (in which every cell location is allowed
to change state an infinite number of times) versus the static nature of the
aTAM (in which tiles are static components that can never change or be removed
once they attach to a growing assembly). We work with 2-dimensional systems in
both models, and for our results we first define what it means for CA systems
to simulate aTAM systems, and then for aTAM systems to simulate CA systems. We
use notions of simulate which are similar to those used in the study of
intrinsic universality since they are in some sense strict, but also
intuitively natural notions of simulation. We then demonstrate a particular
nondeterministic CA which can be configured so that it can simulate any
arbitrary aTAM system, and finally an aTAM tile set which can be configured so
that it can be used to simulate any arbitrary nondeterministic CA system which
begins with a finite initial configuration.Comment: In Proceedings MCU 2013, arXiv:1309.104
Universalities in cellular automata; a (short) survey
This reading guide aims to provide the reader with an easy access to the study of universality in the field of cellular automata. To fulfill this goal, the approach taken here is organized in three parts: a detailled chronology of seminal papers, a discussion of the definition and main properties of universal cellular automata, and a broad bibliography
Communications in cellular automata
The goal of this paper is to show why the framework of communication
complexity seems suitable for the study of cellular automata. Researchers have
tackled different algorithmic problems ranging from the complexity of
predicting to the decidability of different dynamical properties of cellular
automata. But the difference here is that we look for communication protocols
arising in the dynamics itself. Our work is guided by the following idea: if we
are able to give a protocol describing a cellular automaton, then we can
understand its behavior
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