When are cellular automata random?

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Published 16 December 2008 Europhysics Letters Association
, , Citation J. B. Coe et al 2008 EPL 84 50005 DOI 10.1209/0295-5075/84/50005

0295-5075/84/5/50005

Abstract

A random cellular automaton is one in which a cell's behaviour is independent of its previous states. We derive analytical conditions which must be satisfied by random cellular automata and find deterministic and probabilistic cellular automata that satisfy these conditions. Many random cellular automata are seen to have a flow as they are updated through time. We define a correlation current that describes this flow and develop an analytical expression for its size. We compare results from this analytical expression with those from simulation. The randomness in a cell comes from randomness in adjacent cells or from the stochastic nature of update rules. We give an expression for how much randomness comes from each of these two sources.

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10.1209/0295-5075/84/50005