2000/04/19 by Jean Pierre Boon, Boon, Jean Pierre
Physics and Astronomy · #Cellular Automata and Lattice Gases (nlin.CG) #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum chaos and dynamical systems #Scientific Research and Discoveries #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.stat-mech #nlin.CG
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0004331
8 pages incl. 1 figure; submitted to J.Stat.Phys
arxiv created 2000/04/19 · openalex publication_date 2000/04/19 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The automaton known as `Langton's ant' exhibits a dynamical transition from a disordered phase to an ordered phase where the particle dynamics (the ant) produces a regular periodic pattern (called `highway'). Despite the simplicity of its basic algorithm, Langton's ant has remained a puzzle in terms of analytical description. Here I show that the highway dynamics obeys a discrete equation where from the speed of the ant (c=√ 2/52) follows exactly.