CA 98
Organized by David
Griffeath, University of Wisconsin
CONSTRUCTIVE CELLULAR AUTOMATA THEORY
November 14 - 17, 1998
Santa Fe Institute
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Jointly sponsored by SFI and the National Science Foundation
- This workshop focused on constructive methods for the rigorous analysis of cellular automata (CA). The meeting featured thirteen invited talks by the following leading experts in the area:
Matthew Cook (Hungary)
cook@mail.datanet.hu
Jim Crutchfield (UC - Berkeley, SFI)
chaos@santafe.edu
Noam Elkies (Harvard)
elkies@math.harvard.edu
Nick Gotts (MLURI, Aberdeen) n.gotts@mluri.sari.ac.uk
Janko Gravner (UC - Davis)
gravner@math.ucdavis.edu
Dietrich Leithner (German Space Operations Center)
Dietrich.Leithner@dlr.de
Jon Machta (Massachusetts)
machta@phast.umass.edu
Norm Margolus (MIT) nhm@im.lcs.mit.edu
Cris Moore (SFI) moore@santafe.edu
Mark Niemiec (Ohio) mniemiec@interserv.com
Jim Propp (Wisconsin) propp@math.wisc.edu
Rudy Rucker (San Jose State)
rucker@mathcs.sjsu.edu
Roberto Schonmann (UCLA)
rhs@math.ucla.edu
There were no contributed talks. Another twelve researchers, including postdocs and graduate students, attended.
- The meeting explored three of the
most active arenas of mathematical research in a vital field
dominated by empirical work. The principal topics were:
- Algorithmic Complexity of Elementary Cellular Automata
- Constructive Methods for Conway's Life
- CA Modeling in Physics, Biology, and Other Sciences
- The first focus concerns classification
of basic and widely studied CA dynamics in terms of their
algorithmic completeness - how efficiently they are able to
perform logic. The second focus is on remarkable recent methods
developed by members of the Internet LifeList to synthesize
configurations of arbitrary period and other complex designs for
the most celebrated of all CA rules. The third focus deals with
recent applications of cellular automata as prototypes for
complex spatial phenomena across the spectrum of scientific
research.
- The Program Committee for the workshop
consisted of Noam Elkies (Harvard), David Griffeath (Wisconsin),
Cris Moore (SFI), and Jim Propp (MIT). Attendees were drawn
primarily from mathematics, physics and computer science, with
backgrounds in combinatorics, probability theory, algorithms and
related areas.
- The format of the meeting included
three to five 50-minute survey talks per day, intended to
promote knowledge transfer between the three areas, an evening
'show and tell' session of computer demos, and plenty of
informal discussion time. A workshop dinner and a social
excursion were also planned.
- Partial support for local living expenses was available, with priority given to postdocs and graduate students.
More CA 98
Links:
Workshop Schedule
List of Additional Participants
A CA 98 Photo Gallery
CA Resources for Participants
Santa Fe Institute
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