Glider-producing switch engine

Glider-producing switch engine
bo65b$bo65b$bo65b$5bo61b$b3o2bo60b$o4bo61b$o3bo62b$b3o63b$15b2o50b$13b 2o2bo49b$obo10b2o3bo48b$obo10b2o52b$obo64b$obo17bo46b$b2o14bo49b3$22bo 2bo41b$26bo40b$22bo10b2o32b$26bo6b2o32b$22b4o41b$21bo45b$22b2o43b$23bo 43b3$41b2o24b$41b2o24b3$13b2o52b$13b2o52b5$36b2o29b$36b3o9b2o17b$37bo 10bobo16b$49bo17b$33bo33b$27bo5bo33b$26bobo11b3o24b$26bo2bo9bob2o24b$ 16b2o9b2o10b2o26b$15bo2bo48b$15b2ob2o47b$18bobo46b$20b2o45b$17bo3bo45b $17bo2bo44b2o$18b3o44b2o3$54bo12b$53bobo11b$40bo12b2o12b$39bobo25b$39b 2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART ]] #C [[ TRACK -1/12 -1/12 THUMBSIZE 2 HEIGHT 480 Z 4 ]]
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Pattern type	Puffer
Number of cells	123
Bounding box	67 × 60
Frequency class	21.0
Direction	Diagonal
Period	384
Speed	c/12
Discovered by	Charles Corderman
Year of discovery	1971
Rules Outer-totalistic rules B3/S23 only # of rules 20 = 1 Isotropic rules B3/S23 only
Glider synthesis Fewest gliders (canonical) 4 Catagolue-generated RLE (canonical) synthesis Fewest gliders (cheapest variant) 3 Uploaded synthesis RLE gliderproducingswitchengine_synth.rle
Pattern files Plaintext gliderproducingswitchengine.cells RLE gliderproducingswitchengine.rle
Identifiers apgcode yl384_1_59_7aeb1999980c43b4945fb7fcdb023326

The glider-producing switch engine (or glider-making switch engine) is a puffer that was found by Charles Corderman in the early 1970s. It consists of a switch engine reacting with blocks to produce various still lifes, several blinkers, and a glider every 384 generations.

Because of its easy construction (see its predecessors below), it has appeared in some superlinear growth patterns including mosquito 3.

Commonness

The glider-producing switch engine is the second most common naturally-occurring pattern that exhibits infinite growth, the most common being the block-laying switch engine. It is also the ninety-first most common object on Adam P. Goucher's Catagolue.

Predecessors

Time bomb

The time bomb is a 17-cell pattern found by Douglas G. Petrie that evolves into a glider-producing switch engine.

bo11b2o$obo4bo6bo$7bo4bo2b$2bo2bo3bo2bo2b$2b2o6bo4b$3bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ]]

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

Other predecessors

x = 28, y = 6, rule = B3/S23 bobo$o$bo2bo$3b3o$26b2o$26b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ]]

Another simple predecessor of the glider-producing switch engine (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

Although a clean synthesis of the glider-producing switch engine requires 4 gliders, Michael Simkin found a 3-glider collision in October 2014 which includes the puffer in its ash. This collision has the minimum number of gliders necessary to exhibit infinite growth, and is the only known 3-glider collision to do so.

There is a list of known 4-glider syntheses with the condition that all escaping gliders are forward-facing.

Gallery

The debris left behind by the glider-producing switch engine

External links

• Stabilized switch engine at the Life Lexicon
• Single switch engine puffer trains at the Life Objects Catalog
• Glider-producing switch engine at Adam P. Goucher's Catagolue (linear growth)