Lightspeed bubble

A lightspeed bubble is a type of negative spaceship traveling through the zebra stripes agar. The center of the bubble is simple empty space, and the length and/or width of the bubble can usually be extended to any desired size.

Below is a small stabilized section of agar containing a sample lightspeed bubble, found by Gabriel Nivasch in August 1999. The bubble travels to the left at the speed of light, so it will eventually reach the edge of any finite patch and destroy itself and its supporting agar.

<html><div class="rle"><div class="codebox"><div style="display:none;"><code></html>x = 62, y = 37, rule = B3/S23 bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo$b60o$61bo$ b13o2b3o2b3o2b35o$o14b2o3b2o3b2o8bo$b13o3b2o3b2o3bob2obo4b24o$29b2o5bo 24bo$b13o17b30o$o31bo$b13o19b28o$33bo4bo22bo$b13o19b2o4b22o$o32bo5bo4b o$b13o19b2o4b2o4b16o$33bo5bo5bo4bo10bo$b13o19b2o4b2o4b2o4b10o$o32bo5bo 5bo5bo4bo$b13o19b2o4b2o4b2o4b2o4b4o$33bo5bo5bo5bo5bo3bo$b13o19b2o4b2o 4b2o4b2o4b4o$o32bo5bo5bo5bo4bo$b13o19b2o4b2o4b2o4b10o$33bo5bo5bo4bo10b o$b13o19b2o4b2o4b16o$o32bo5bo4bo$b13o19b2o4b22o$33bo4bo22bo$b13o19b28o $o31bo$b13o17b30o$29b2o5bo24bo$b13o3b2o3b2o3bob2obo4b24o$o14b2o3b2o3b 2o8bo$b13o2b3o2b3o2b35o$61bo$b60o$bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo 2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 THUMBLAUNCH THUMBSIZE 2 GPS 8 ]]<html></code></div></div><canvas width="200" height="300" style="margin-left:1px;"><noscript></html>
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An open problem related to lightspeed bubbles was whether large extensible empty areas could be created whose length was not proportional to the width (as it must be in the above case, due to the tapering back edge). This was solved in February 2017 by Arie Paap;[1] a simple period-2 solution is shown below.

<html><div class="rle"><div class="codebox"><div style="display:none;"><code></html>x = 61, y = 49, rule = B3/S23 3bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo$b59o$o59bo$b 59o2$b59o$o53bo5bo$b20o2b3o2b3o2b3o2b8o2b4o3b5o$22b2o3b2o3b2o3b2o8b2o 5bo$b20o3b2o3b2o3b2o3b7o3bob2o2b5o$o41bo8b2o7bo$b20o22b2obo6b7o$43bo 12bo$b20o22bo13b3o$o42b2o5b2o4bo3bo$b20o22b2o3b2o3bob5o$43bo2bob2o3bo$ b20o22bo6b2o3b5o$o42b2o10bo4bo$b20o22b2o10b5o$43bo6b2obo$b20o22bo2bob 2o3bob5o$o42b2o3b2o6bo3bo$b20o22b2o5b2o5b3o$43bo12bo$b20o22bo11b5o$o 42b2o5b2ob2o5bo$b20o22b2o3b2o3b2o2b3o$43bo2bob2o5b2o$b20o22bo6b2o4b4o$ o42b2o15bo$b20o22b2o11b4o$43bo6b2o3b2o$b20o22bo2bob2o3b2o2b3o$o42b2o3b 2o3b2o5bo$b20o22b2o5b2o3b5o$43bo12bo$b22o5bo5bo5bo2bobo11b3o$o25b2o4b 2o4b2o3bo3bobo7bo2bo$b24ob2ob2ob2ob2ob2ob9o7b3o$56bo$b49o3b7o$o50b2o7b o$b49o2b8o2$b59o$o59bo$b59o$3bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo 2bo2bo2bo2bo2bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 THUMBLAUNCH THUMBSIZE 2 GPS 8 ]]<html></code></div></div><canvas width="200" height="300" style="margin-left:1px;"><noscript></html>
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References
  1. Arie Paap (February 15, 2017). Re: How about searching light speed signals with various speed? (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
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