Impact of (a)Synchronism on ECA: Towards a New Classification

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Main Authors: Donoso-Leiva, Isabel, Goles, Eric, Rios-Wilson, Martin, Sene, Sylvain
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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_version_ 1866916739252486144
author Donoso-Leiva, Isabel
Goles, Eric
Rios-Wilson, Martin
Sene, Sylvain
author_facet Donoso-Leiva, Isabel
Goles, Eric
Rios-Wilson, Martin
Sene, Sylvain
contents In this paper, we study the effect of (a)synchronism on the dynamics of elementary cellular automata. Within the framework of our study, we choose five distinct update schemes, selected from the family of periodic update modes: parallel, sequential, block-sequential, block-parallel, and local clocks. Our main measure of complexity is the maximum period of the limit cycles in the dynamics of each rule. In this context, we present a classification of the ECA rule landscape. We classified most elementary rules into three distinct regimes: constant, linear, and superpolynomial. Surprisingly, while some rules exhibit more complex behavior under a broader class of update schemes, others show similar behavior across all the considered update schemes. Although we are able to derive upper and lower bounds for the maximum period of the limit cycles in most cases, the analysis of some rules remains open. To complement the study of the 88 elementary rules, we introduce a numerical simulation framework based on two main measurements: the energy and density of the configurations. In this context, we observe that some rules exhibit significant variability depending on the update scheme, while others remain stable, confirming what was observed as a result of the classification obtained in the theoretical analysis.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_10645
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Impact of (a)Synchronism on ECA: Towards a New Classification
Donoso-Leiva, Isabel
Goles, Eric
Rios-Wilson, Martin
Sene, Sylvain
Discrete Mathematics
Dynamical Systems
Cellular Automata and Lattice Gases
68 (Primary)
G.2.0
In this paper, we study the effect of (a)synchronism on the dynamics of elementary cellular automata. Within the framework of our study, we choose five distinct update schemes, selected from the family of periodic update modes: parallel, sequential, block-sequential, block-parallel, and local clocks. Our main measure of complexity is the maximum period of the limit cycles in the dynamics of each rule. In this context, we present a classification of the ECA rule landscape. We classified most elementary rules into three distinct regimes: constant, linear, and superpolynomial. Surprisingly, while some rules exhibit more complex behavior under a broader class of update schemes, others show similar behavior across all the considered update schemes. Although we are able to derive upper and lower bounds for the maximum period of the limit cycles in most cases, the analysis of some rules remains open. To complement the study of the 88 elementary rules, we introduce a numerical simulation framework based on two main measurements: the energy and density of the configurations. In this context, we observe that some rules exhibit significant variability depending on the update scheme, while others remain stable, confirming what was observed as a result of the classification obtained in the theoretical analysis.
title Impact of (a)Synchronism on ECA: Towards a New Classification
topic Discrete Mathematics
Dynamical Systems
Cellular Automata and Lattice Gases
68 (Primary)
G.2.0
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.10645