Evolution from seeds in one-dimensional cellular automata

  • Janko Gravner | University of California, Davis

The talk will give an overview of recent results on simple one-dimensional rules started from seeds, i.e., from bounded perturbations of the quiescent state. Two phenomena, replication and robust periodic solutions emanating from one of the edges, are of particular interest. The talk will emphasize examples and interesting open problems.

(Joint work with D. Griffeath, G. Gliner, and M. Pelfrey.)

Speaker Details

Janko Gravner is a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Davis. He received his PhD in 1991 at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His research focusses on cellular automata, with emphasis on probabilistic problems. It is known that many cellular automata, most notably Conway’s Game of Life, are intractably complicated in the sense that they can simulate a Turing machine or a digital computer. At the same time, many cellular systems model physical processes such as phase transitions in materials (boiling and crystallization) and biological processes such as the spread of disease or organization of living cells. Many of these models are not of the intractably complicated type and seem to have predictable aggregate behavior. Professor Gravner strives to combine computer experiments with rigorous investigations to analyze such dynamics. His work with David Griffeath on modeling snowflakes has been featured by Science News and The Discovery Channel.

    • Portrait of Jeff Running

      Jeff Running

Series: Microsoft Research Talks