Wire

A wire is a repeating pattern that a signal can travel along without making any permanent change to the pattern. If instead the pattern is destroyed by the travelling signal (i.e. it burns from one end) it is a fuse.

The first documented wire was discovered by Dean Hickerson in March 1997 while studying some period-3 oscillators found by Achim Flammenkamp. It transmits signals that travel through the wire diagonally at two-thirds of the speed of light. This was the inspiration for Hickerson's drifter search program, which led to the discovery of a 5c/9 wire a month later.

Hickerson also used his program to search for a wire signal elbow, hoping to use it to construct a fast signal loop and solve the omniperiodicity problem; this effort was unsuccessful for Life, with the closest match being a 2c/3 signal elbow found in July 1997 that turned a single signal into a reflected double signal.

Interest in wires has decreased in recent years. This is because signals on wires are hard to manipulate as compared to signals in a vacuum, especially in the form of gliders, for which there is a rich and growing toolkit. The discovery of new wire components could change that; in particular, they could lead to the solution of the omniperiodicity problem.

2c/3 wire

2c/3 wire was discovered by Dean Hickerson in 1997. It can be found in the misc section of jslife under the name signals 2c3d.

x = 69, y = 66, rule = B3/S23 41bo$6bo32b2o$4bobo33b2o$5b2o2$34bo$33bo$33b3o2$25bo$23b3o$22bo$22b2o 6$26bo4b2o$25bobobo2bo$26b2ob3o2$26b6o$25bo6bo$25bo2b5o$23bobobo7bo$ 23b2o2bo2b6o$27bobo$26b2obo2b6o$29bobo6bo$bo27bobo2b5o$b2o27b2obo7bo$o bo30bo2b6o$33bobo$32b2obo2b6o$35bobo6bo$5bo29bobo2b5o$5b2o29b2obo7bo$ 4bobo32bo2b6o$39bobo$38b2obo2b6o$41bobo6bo$41bobo2b5o$42b2obo7bo$45bo 2b6o$45bobo$44b2obo2b6o$47bobo6bo$47bobo2b5o$48b2obo7bo$51bo2b6o$51bob o$50b2obo2b6o$53bobo6bo$53bobo2b5o$54b2obo7bo$57bo2b6o$57bobo$56b2obo 2b6o$59bobo6bo$59bobo2b3obo$60b2obo3bo$63bo2bo$63bobo$62b2obobo$66b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART THUMBSIZE 2 HEIGHT 600 WIDTH 600 X 8 Y 4 ZOOM 8 GPS 10 LOOP 128 PAUSE 2 ]]

Diagonal 2c/3 wire (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

Each signal is made up of two half-signals that can be separated from each other by an arbitrary number of ticks.

Considerable effort has been spent on finding a way to turn a 2c/3 signal 90 or 180 degrees, since this would be one way to prove Life to be omniperiodic. There is a known 2c/3 converter shown under signal elbow, which converts a standard 2c/3 signal into a double-length signal. This is usable in some situations, but unfortunately it fails when its input is a double-length signal and thus cannot be used to complete a loop.

In February 2004, Noam Elkies discovered a glider synthesis of a reaction that can repeatably insert a signal into the upper end of a 2c/3 wire. See stable pseudo-Heisenburp for details. On September 11, 2017, Martin Grant reduced the input reaction to five gliders or three gliders plus a Herschel. With the Herschel option the recovery time is 152 ticks.

Devices that extract a signal from a 2c/3 wire have also been built; currently the lowest repeat time of a standard 2c/3 signal receiver is 964 ticks, and that of a double-length signal is 970 ticks, both of which were achieved by Goldtiger997 in 2021 by using complex staged recovery systems.

5c/9 wire

5c/9 wire was discovered by Dean Hickerson in 1997.

x = 91, y = 86, rule = B3/S23 41bo$6bo32b2o$4bobo33b2o$5b2o2$34bo$33bo$33b3o2$25bo$23b3o$22bo$22b2o 6$26bo4b2o$25bobobo2bo$26b2ob3o2$26b6o$25bo6bo$25bo2b5o$23bobobo7bo$ 23b2o2bo2b6o$27bobo8bo3b2o$26b2obo2b7o2bo2bo$29bobo7b3obobo$bo27bobo2b 5o3bobobob2o$b2o27b2obo6bo3bobobobo$obo30bo2b6o2bobo2b2o$33bobo6bobobo $32b2obo2b4obo2b5o$35bobo3bobobo4bo$5bo29bobobo3bobob2o$5b2o29bobob4ob o2b2o$4bobo31bo7bo3bo$38bob6ob3o3bo$37b2obo4bobo2b4o$40bo2bo3bobo6bo$ 40bobob4obo2b5o$39b2obo6bobo5b2o$42bob4obo2bob2obobo$42bobo2bob2obobob o2bo$41b2o2bo2bo3bobo4bob2o$43b2o4b4ob2o2b2o2bo$43bo3bobo6bo3bo$44b4ob ob5ob3o3bo$48bobo4bobo2b4o$46bo3bo2bo3bobo6bo$46b2o2bobob4obo2b5o$49b 2obo6bobo5b2o$52bob4obo2bob2obobo$52bobo2bob2obobobo2bo$51b2o2bo2bo3bo bo4bob2o$53b2o4b4ob2o2b2o2bo$53bo3bobo6bo3bo$54b4obob5ob3o3bo$58bobo4b obo2b4o$56bo3bo2bo3bobo6bo$56b2o2bobob4obo2b5o$59b2obo6bobo5b2o$62bob 4obo2bob2obobo$62bobo2bob2obobobo2bo$61b2o2bo2bo3bobo4bob2o$63b2o4b4ob 2o2b2o2bo$63bo3bobo6bo3bo$64b4obob5ob3o3bo$68bobo4bobo2b4o$66bo3bo2bo 3bobo6bo$66b2o2bobob4obo2b5o$69b2obo6bobo5b2o$72bob4obo2bob2obo2bo$72b obo2bob2obobobo2b2o$71b2o2bo2bo3bobo$73b2o4b4ob2o$73bo3bobo6bo$74b4obo b5obo$78bobo4bobo$76bo3bo2bo3b2o$76b2o2bobob3o2bo$79b2obo5bo$83bob3o$ 84b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART THUMBSIZE 2 HEIGHT 600 WIDTH 600 X 8 Y 4 ZOOM 6 GPS 10 LOOP 180 PAUSE 2 ]]

Diagonal 5c/9 wire (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

Oscillators have been found that inject signals of various periods including 9, 10, and 11 into a 5c/9 wire.

It is possible to convert a 2c/3 wire signal into a 5c/9 signal; the viewer above shows the aforementioned five-glider input reaction for a 2c/3 signal and its subsequent conversion to 5c/9 signal. Another elementary 5c/9 signal injector involves a lumps of muck reaction, which can be made from the synchronized 2-glider collision at a repeat time of 62 ticks or a single Herschel with a much higher repeat time.

However, no converter has yet been found for 5c/9 to 2c/3–or any other viable signal type, for that matter. A sufficiently fast 5c/9 to 2c/3 turning conversion in particular would be enough to solve the omniperiodicity problem.

c/2 wire

c/2 wire was discovered by Hartmut Holzwart in 2003.

x = 50, y = 50, rule = B3/S23 bo$obo$bobo$2bobo$3bobo$5bo$7bo$3bo3bo$7b2o$4b3o3bo$8b3o$9b2o$12bo$12b obo2$13bobo$14bobo$15bobo2bo$16bo5bo$17b2o3bo$22bo$19b3o$21bobo$23b2o$ 22b3o2$25b2o$28bo$26bo2bo$28bobo$29bobo$30bobo$31bobo$32bobo$33bobo$ 34bobo$35bobo$36bobo$37bobo$38bobo$39bobo$40bobo$41bobo$42bobo$43bobo$ 44bobo$45bobo$46bobo$47bobo$48bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART THUMBSIZE 2 HEIGHT 440 ZOOM 8 GPS 10 LOOP 50 PAUSE 2 ]]

Diagonal c/2 wire (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

Both halves of the signal (the non-uniform portion of the pattern) are needed, since the wire is offset by one cell between the two half signals.

This wire must extend infinitely at the leading edge to avoid destruction, limiting its practical usefulness.

Lightspeed wire

The zebra stripes agar can be used to form a wire. Below are several signals which can travel through such a wire at lightspeed (one cell to the right per generation).

x = 147, y = 40, rule = B3/S23:T147,40 13$2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo 2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo 2bo2bo2bo2bo$147o2$13o2b10o2b120o$12b2o10b2o40bo13bo13bo12bo$12o3b9o3b 12o2b24o4b11o4b10o3b10o4b14o2b20o$38b2o11bo12bo14bo15bo10bo2bo10bo3b2o $12o3b11o3b10o2b9o4b11o4b11o4b10o3b10o4b9o5bo3b18o$12b2o12b2o22bo14bo 14bo13bo12bo13bo2b2o$13o2b12o2b96o2b20o2$147o$2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo 2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo 2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART THUMBSIZE 2 HEIGHT 360 WIDTH 800 GPS 10 LOOP 20 ZOOM 6 PAUSE 2 ]]

Several lightspeed signals travel through a zebra stripes wire (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

This wire must extend infinitely at the leading edge to avoid destruction, limiting its practical usefulness.

External links

• Stable 2c/3 signal receiver at Game of Life News. Posted by Dave Greene on February 7, 2005.
• Wire at the Life Lexicon
• 2c/3 wire at the Life Lexicon
• 5c/9 wire at the Life Lexicon
• Lightspeed wire at the Life Lexicon