Billiard table configuration

A billiard table configuration (or simply a billiard table) is an oscillator in which the rotor is enclosed within the stator. Typically the casing part of the stator is extended and several more or less trivial variations within it are possible (for example, the choice of induction coils). Although billiard table configurations are considered interesting for their own sake, they are generally useless for creating larger patterns because they do not expose any sparks to interact with other oscillators or spaceships.

Scrubber is a simple billiard table

It was long thought that it would be impossible to construct billiard tables by glider synthesis because the centers are not accessible from outside, but David Buckingham has succeeded in producing syntheses of some billiard tables.[1]

Some sets of billiard tables are known that share the same stator despite having different rotors. Two cases are pinwheel and clock 2, and Hertz oscillator and negentropy.

Other examples of billiard table configurations include airforce, cauldron, pressure cooker, and scrubber.

See also
  • List of billiard table configurations

References
  1. "Alan Hensel's lifebc.zip pattern collection". Alan Hensel. Retrieved on April 4, 2009.
This article is issued from Conwaylife. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.