Doppler effect
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The Doppler effect refers to several phenomena regarding the relative motion of two objects, where two objects catching up will always behave similarly regardless of timing.
In Conway's Game of Life
An example of how the Doppler effect applies to Life is in this viewer below, where a crabstretcher moves forward at c/4, while the fuse behind burns at c/3.
| (click above to open LifeViewer) |
The net contraction is 1/3 - 1/4 = 1/12, i.e., 1/3 the rate of the crab and 1/4 the rate of the fuse. The crab and fuse will get one cell closer every 12 generations. As the crab is period 4 and the fuse is period 3, they'll both match phase every 12 generations. Because both numbers are 12, this means that what happens when the fuse hits the crab is independent of timing, and it will always be the same (in this case, the crab survives while the fuse becomes an E-heptomino relative).
External links
- Doppler effect at Wikipedia (name origin)