Effect of boundary conditions on scaling in the "game of Life" (1997)
- Blok & Bergersen (1997)
- Blok, H. & Bergersen, B. (1997). Effect of boundary conditions on scaling in the “game of Life”. Physical Review E, 55(5). 6249–6252. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.55.6249
Abstract
The debate as to whether the “game of Life” is self-organized critical remains unresolved. We present evidence that boundary conditions play an important role in the scaling behaviour, resulting in apparently contradictory results. We develop an analytic form for the scaling function and demonstrate that periodic boundaries force saturation, while open boundaries exhibit no such transitions on similar scales. We also consider the removal of boundaries altogether.