2,452 research outputs found
Computational universes
Suspicions that the world might be some sort of a machine or algorithm
existing ``in the mind'' of some symbolic number cruncher have lingered from
antiquity. Although popular at times, the most radical forms of this idea never
reached mainstream. Modern developments in physics and computer science have
lent support to the thesis, but empirical evidence is needed before it can
begin to replace our contemporary world view.Comment: Several corrections of typos and smaller revisions, final versio
Phase transitions of extended-range probabilistic cellular automata with two absorbing states
We study phase transitions in a long-range one-dimensional cellular automaton
with two symmetric absorbing states. It includes and extends several other
models, like the Ising and Domany-Kinzel ones. It is characterized by a
competing ferromagnetic linear coupling and an antiferromagnetic nonlinear one.
Despite its simplicity, this model exhibits an extremely rich phase diagram. We
present numerical results and mean-field approximations.Comment: New and expanded versio
Cellular automata and self-organized criticality
Cellular automata provide a fascinating class of dynamical systems capable of
diverse complex behavior. These include simplified models for many phenomena
seen in nature. Among other things, they provide insight into self-organized
criticality, wherein dissipative systems naturally drive themselves to a
critical state with important phenomena occurring over a wide range of length
and time scales.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures (most in color); uses sprocl.tex; chapter
submitted for "Some new directions in science on computers," G. Bhanot, S.
Chen, and P. Seiden, ed
Massively parallel computing on an organic molecular layer
Current computers operate at enormous speeds of ~10^13 bits/s, but their
principle of sequential logic operation has remained unchanged since the 1950s.
Though our brain is much slower on a per-neuron base (~10^3 firings/s), it is
capable of remarkable decision-making based on the collective operations of
millions of neurons at a time in ever-evolving neural circuitry. Here we use
molecular switches to build an assembly where each molecule communicates-like
neurons-with many neighbors simultaneously. The assembly's ability to
reconfigure itself spontaneously for a new problem allows us to realize
conventional computing constructs like logic gates and Voronoi decompositions,
as well as to reproduce two natural phenomena: heat diffusion and the mutation
of normal cells to cancer cells. This is a shift from the current static
computing paradigm of serial bit-processing to a regime in which a large number
of bits are processed in parallel in dynamically changing hardware.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure
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