Hotcrystal0 reaction

The hotcrystal0 reaction is a periodic glider-receiving mechanism that has been used for creating glider guns of various periods.

Unix-specific form

On November 13, 2021, a forums user with pseudonym hotcrystal0 found a partial conduit in a Life-related cellular automaton known as Symbiosis. A glider hitting a bait block triggers a honey farm predecessor explosion, and some peripheral alien catalysts perturb it to restore the block and emit an additional octomino II.

x = 43, y = 37, rule = B3/S23 33bo4bo2bo$31b3o4bo$30bo6bo4bo$30b2o4bobo2b2o$34b2obo$27b2o$27b2o$34bo 2bo$36b2o2$17b2o$7b2o7bobo$6bobo7bo$5b3o7b2o6bo$5b2o16b2o$6bobo13bobo$ 7bobo2b2o$8bo2bobo$9b4o20b2o$10b2o17b2obo$29b2o2bo2bo$34bobo$25bo9bo$ 24b2o$24b2o8b2o$24bo9b2o3$5b2o$5b2o$5b2o7b2o$6bo7b2o$5bobo$3obobo4b2o$ 4obo6bo17bo$4bo4b3o19bo$9bo19b3o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 HEIGHT 400 ZOOM 8 AUTOSTART PAUSE 2 GPS 10 LOOP 174 ]]

Period 174+24N glider gun (174 shown)

(click above to open LifeViewer)
RLE: here Plaintext: here

A fortnight later, wwei23 found that a toad can turn a premature octomino II into a 90-degree glider, and completed the conduit in plain Life with a couple of unices as sparkers. The first unix provides a dot spark to suppress a B3a birth. The second one can be placed in either of two possible locations, one of which produces an additional 180-degree glider along with the aforementioned one; this results in an adjustable p174+24N glider shuttle/relay. Below is given a list of high periods where the smallest gun by bounding box uses this reaction. The four rows are by itself and with a period doubler, tripler, and quadrupler.

174	198	222	246	270	294	318	342
348	396	444	492	540	588	636	684
522	594	666	738	810	882	954
696	792	888	984
Key:		hotcrystal0 reaction			Something else

Generalized form

A few hours after wwei23's post, Luka Okanishi modified the mechanism and created a true period-51 glider gun. The second unix described above is replaced with the eater1-with-beehive constellation used in p5 quinti-Snark; this emits the 180-degree output glider on another transparent lane, 22 half-diagonals away from input, but destroys the octomino II. More notably, Luka collided sparks from two copies of this new reflector and added an eater 1, obtaining an extra glider parallel to both inputs and outputs. This over-unity reaction with a repeat time of 49 turns out to be suitable for building lower-period glider guns.

Since then, various people have found other compatible sparkers of various periods. Collaborative efforts have managed to construct the first true-period guns with periods 49 and 51, as well as to reduce in bounding box for several true gun periods including 52, 57, 65. On May 28, 2022, the p49 gun was significantly reduced due to the discovery of meatball, a slightly smaller sparker which could be used in place of 38P7.2.

x = 89, y = 95, rule = B3/S23 62bo2bo$61bo$60bo5bo$59b2obobob3o$60bo3b2o3bo$60bo2bobobobo2$59bobobob o2bo$59bo3b2o3bo$60b3obobob2o$45bobo14bo5bo$45b2o20bo$46bo16bo2bo4b2o$ 69bo2bo$69b2obob2o$51b2o14bobo2bobobo$50bo2bo6b2o5b2o2b2obobo$51b2o6bo b2o12bo$59bo3bo$60b3o10b5o$48b2o11bo11bo3bo$49bo25bo$33bo12b3o25b3o8bo $33bobo10bo26bo6b2ob2obo$33b2o38b2o4b2o5bo$78bo2bo2bob2o$78bo3b3o3bo$ 50b2o26bo9bo$51b2o6b2o10bo6bo3b3o3bo$50bo7bobo10bo7b2obo2bo2bo$58bo11b obo7bo5b2o$57b2o12b2o7bob2ob2o$61bo9b2o8bo$61bobo$22bo38b2o$20b2o$21b 2o2$73bo$38b2o32bobo$26bo10bobo20b2o10bobo$24b3o12bo21b2o10bo$23bo36bo 7b2o$11bo11b2o42bobo$10b3o37bo16bo10bobo$9bo3bo34b2o16b2o10b2o$10b2obo 6b2o27b2o28bo$4b2o5b2o6bo2bo$3bobo14b2o$3bo$2b2o$9bo16bo$6bo5bo13b2o 20b2o$6bo5bo12bobo19bobo$6bo2bo2bo36bo2$2b2o4bobo4b2o20bo28bo$o2bo3b2o b2o3bo2bo17bo29bobo$2o15b2o17b3o27b2o$5bob5obo$5bob5obo2$2b2o11b2o$2bo 5bobo5bo$3b2o2bo3bo2b2o20bo$8bobo25b2o10b2o$b7o3b7o17bobo10bo$bo6bobo 6bo28bobo$3bob9o2bo29b2o7bo$2b2obo3bo3bo2b4o4bobo15bo10b2o$6b2obob2o6b o4b2o15bobo10b2o$7b2ob2o4b3o6bo15bobo$5bo7bo2bo25bo$3b3ob2ob2ob3o$2bo$ 3bob2obobob2o$2b2obo2bobo2bo$7b2ob2o$8bobo23bo8b2o$8bobo18b2ob2obo7b2o $9bo18b2o5bo7bobo$12bo14bo2bo2bob2o7bo$12bobo12bo3b3o3bo6bo$12b2o13bo 9bo$27bo3b3o3bo$28b2obo2bo2bo$29bo5b2o4b2o$29bob2ob2o6bo$30bo8b3o$40bo $38bo3bo$38b5o2$37bob2o$37b2obo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ GPS 25 THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 8 WIDTH 800 HEIGHT 800 LOOP 49 ]] p49 glider gun (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

x = 89, y = 87, rule = B3/S23 17bo3b2o$16bobobo2bob2obo$14b3obob4obob2o$13bo3b2o$13bob2obo$14bobob3o 3bo2b2o$16bobobo2b3o2bo$16bob2o2b2ob3o$12b2o3bo4bo$12bo2bobo7bo$8b2o4b 2o2b2o$3b2o3bo6bo3bo17b3o$2bo2bo4bob3o4bobo14bo2bo$2bobo4b3obo6b2o14bo 3bo6bobo$b2ob4o7bo19b2o11b2o$o7b2o4b2o7b2o10b3o10bo$b2o3b2o2bo12b2o$3b 3obo2b3o26b2o$b3obo7bo25bo$o3bo3bo3b2o10bo7b2o6b3o$o3b2o2bo13b4o5b2o9b o$b5o2b2o5b2o5b2obo7bo$4b2o2b2o5b2o4b2o3bo$b2o4b2o$bo5bo$2bo2bobo53bo$ b2o2b2o18b2o35bo$25bo34b3o$26b3o$19b2o7bo$18b2o17bo$20bo14bobo$36b2o6b 3o$44bo$12b2ob2o28bo$10b2ob2o$10bo$10bobo4b2o61b3o$11b2o4bobo53bo$19bo 44bo9b2o5b2o$19b2o43b3o6b2o$67bo$31b3o32b2o$31bo16bobo31b2o$32bo16b2o 7bo10b3o10b2o$49bo7b2o11b2o$13bobo41bobo6bo3bo14b2o$14b2o51bo2bo14bobo $14bo52b3o17bo$87b2o$81bo$84bo$79b3ob2o2b2o$78bo2b3o2bobo$45bo32b2o2bo 3b2o$44b2o16bo$44bobo16bo18bo3b2o$61b3o18bob2o2bo$27bo54bo4b2o$28bo49b 2o5bo$26b3o50bob8o$88bo$39b2o40b2ob2o$40bo41bobo$40bobo4b2o33bobo$41b 2o4bobo33bo$49bo$45b2ob2o$43b2ob2o3$39bo$40b2o$39b2o3$53b2o4b2o$52bobo 3bo$37bo14bo8bo$37bo13b2o6bo2bo$43b2o5b2o2bob2o2bob3o$43b2o5b2o2b2o2bo bo4bo$51bo2b3o3bob3o$46b2o3bo3b2o3bobo$46bo7bobo3bo$47b3o2bobobobobo$ 49bo2b2o3b2ob2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ GPS 25 THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 8 WIDTH 800 HEIGHT 800 LOOP 51 ]] p51 glider gun (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

Apart from coupling to give guns, this new 180-degree reflector is also capable of constituting the smallest known oscillator by population of several periods.

Base	Sparker	Periods
3		57, 69, 81, 129
5		95
6	unix	174, 192, 198, 222, 264, 288, 294, 318, 324, 348, 366, 372, 384
7	meatball	49

x = 46, y = 59, rule = B3/S23 9bo$4bo4b3o$4obo6bo$3obobo4b2o$5bobo$6bo$5b2o$5b2o7bo$5b2o7bo$13bobo$13b2o$ 13b2o6$12bo$11bobo$11bobo$12bo$16b2o$16bobo$18bo$18b2o10$26b2o$27bo$27bobo$ 28b2o$33bo$32bobo$32bobo$33bo6$31b2o$31b2o$30bobo$31bo7b2o$31bo7b2o$39b2o$39b o$38bobo$33b2o4bobob3o$33bo6bob4o$34b3o4bo$36bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 8 HEIGHT 600 ]]

Smallest p156 oscillator (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here