Lightspeed bubble

A lightspeed bubble is a type of negative spaceship traveling through the zebra stripes agar. The center of the bubble is simple empty space, and the length and/or width of the bubble can usually be extended to any desired size.

Below is a small stabilized section of agar containing a sample lightspeed bubble, found by Gabriel Nivasch in August 1999. The bubble travels to the left at the speed of light, so it will eventually reach the edge of any finite patch and destroy itself and its supporting agar.

x = 58, y = 58, rule = B3/S23:T58,58 $58o2$58o2$58o2$58o2$58o2$58o2$9o2b3o2b3o2b37o$10b2o3b2o3b2o8bo$9o3b2o 3b2o3bob2obo4b26o$24b2o5bo$9o17b32o$27bo$9o19b30o$28bo4bo$9o19b2o4b24o $28bo5bo4bo$9o19b2o4b2o4b18o$28bo5bo5bo4bo$9o19b2o4b2o4b2o4b12o$28bo5b o5bo5bo4bo$9o19b2o4b2o4b2o4b2o4b6o$28bo5bo5bo5bo5bo$9o19b2o4b2o4b2o4b 2o4b6o$28bo5bo5bo5bo4bo$9o19b2o4b2o4b2o4b12o$28bo5bo5bo4bo$9o19b2o4b2o 4b18o$28bo5bo4bo$9o19b2o4b24o$28bo4bo$9o19b30o$27bo$9o17b32o$24b2o5bo $9o3b2o3b2o3bob2obo4b26o$10b2o3b2o3b2o8bo$9o2b3o2b3o2b37o2$58o2$58o2$ 58o2$58o2$58o2$58o2$58o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 9.2 HEIGHT 500 GPS 20 AUTOSTART ]]

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

An open problem related to lightspeed bubbles was whether large extensible empty areas could be created whose length was not proportional to the width (as it must be in the above case, due to the tapering back edge). This was solved in February 2017 by Arie Paap; a simple period-2 solution is shown below.

x = 61, y = 49, rule = B3/S23 3bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo$b59o$o59bo$b 59o2$b59o$o53bo5bo$b20o2b3o2b3o2b3o2b8o2b4o3b5o$22b2o3b2o3b2o3b2o8b2o 5bo$b20o3b2o3b2o3b2o3b7o3bob2o2b5o$o41bo8b2o7bo$b20o22b2obo6b7o$43bo 12bo$b20o22bo13b3o$o42b2o5b2o4bo3bo$b20o22b2o3b2o3bob5o$43bo2bob2o3bo$ b20o22bo6b2o3b5o$o42b2o10bo4bo$b20o22b2o10b5o$43bo6b2obo$b20o22bo2bob 2o3bob5o$o42b2o3b2o6bo3bo$b20o22b2o5b2o5b3o$43bo12bo$b20o22bo11b5o$o 42b2o5b2ob2o5bo$b20o22b2o3b2o3b2o2b3o$43bo2bob2o5b2o$b20o22bo6b2o4b4o$ o42b2o15bo$b20o22b2o11b4o$43bo6b2o3b2o$b20o22bo2bob2o3b2o2b3o$o42b2o3b 2o3b2o5bo$b20o22b2o5b2o3b5o$43bo12bo$b22o5bo5bo5bo2bobo11b3o$o25b2o4b 2o4b2o3bo3bobo7bo2bo$b24ob2ob2ob2ob2ob2ob9o7b3o$56bo$b49o3b7o$o50b2o7b o$b49o2b8o2$b59o$o59bo$b59o$3bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo 2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 THUMBLAUNCH THUMBSIZE 2 GPS 8 ]] #C Will it be better if people can see the sides of the torus?

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

External links

• Lightspeed bubble at the Life Lexicon