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Thomas Worsch

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas Worsch.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Embedding arbitrary Boolean circuits into fungal automata with arbitrary update sequences

The sandpile automata of Bak, Tang, and Wiesenfeld (Phys. Rev. Lett., 1987) are a simple model for the diffusion of particles in space. A fundamental problem related to the complexity of the model is predicting its evolution in the parallel setting. Despite decades of effort, a classification of this problem for two-dimensional sandpile automata remains outstanding. Fungal automata were recently proposed by Goles et al. (Phys. Lett. A, 2020) as a spin-off of the model in which diffusion occurs either in horizontal $(H)$ or vertical $(V)$ directions according to a so-called update scheme. Goles et al. proved that the prediction problem for this model with the update scheme $H^4V^4$ is $\textbf{P}$-complete. This result was subsequently improved by Modanese and Worsch (Algorithmica, 2024), who showed the problem is $\textbf{P}$-complete also for the simpler updatenscheme $HV$. In this work, we fill in the gaps and prove that the prediction problem is $\textbf{P}$-complete for any update scheme that contains both $H$ and $V$ at least once.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2022

Embedding arbitrary Boolean circuits into fungal automata

Fungal automata are a variation of the two-dimensional sandpile automaton of Bak, Tang, and Wiesenfeld (Phys. Rev. Lett. 1987). In each step toppling cells emit grains only to some of their neighbors chosen according to a specific update sequence. We show how to embed any Boolean circuit into the initial configuration of a fungal automaton with update sequence $HV$. In particular we give a constructor that, given the description $B$ of a circuit, computes the states of all cells in the finite support of the embedding configuration in $O(\log |B|)$ space. As a consequence the prediction problem for fungal automata with update sequence $HV$ is $\mathsf{P}$-complete. This solves an open problem of Goles et al. (Phys. Lett. A, 2020).

cs.CC↗
arXiv2020

A faster algorithm for the FSSP in one-dimensional CA with multiple speeds

In cellular automata with multiple speeds for each cell $i$ there is a positive integer $p_i$ such that this cell updates its state still periodically but only at times which are a multiple of $p_i$. Additionally there is a finite upper bound on all $p_i$. Manzoni and Umeo have described an algorithm for these (one-dimensional) cellular automata which solves the Firing Squad Synchronization Problem. This algorithm needs linear time (in the number of cells to be synchronized) but for many problem instances it is slower than the optimum time by some positive constant factor. In the present paper we derive lower bounds on possible synchronization times and describe an algorithm which is never slower and in some cases faster than the one by Manzoni and Umeo and which is close to a lower bound (up to a constant summand) in more cases.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2018

Sequentializing cellular automata

We study the problem of sequentializing a cellular automaton without introducing any intermediate states, and only performing reversible permutations on the tape. We give a decidable characterization of cellular automata which can be written as a single left-to-right sweep of a bijective rule from left to right over an infinite tape.

math.DS↗
arXiv2012

Phase Space Invertible Asynchronous Cellular Automata

While for synchronous deterministic cellular automata there is an accepted definition of reversibility, the situation is less clear for asynchronous cellular automata. We first discuss a few possibilities and then investigate what we call phase space invertible asynchronous cellular automata in more detail. We will show that for each Turing machine there is such a cellular automaton simulating it, and that it is decidable whether an asynchronous cellular automaton has this property or not, even in higher dimensions.

cs.FL↗