ABSTRACT
Two-dimensional cellular automata have a relatively ancient history, from von Neumann's self-reproducing automata of the 1940's to Conway's “game of life” (1960). These systems have proven to be valuable modeling tools in the fields of the physics of growth, physical chemistry, and hydrodynamics, for they make it possible to follow the mechanisms of interaction between automata and to observe the state of the lattice at any given moment in the iteration. In these fields the dynamical properties are often described by partial differential equations with nonlinear terms which are not solvable by analytical methods. Classical direct methods Me computationally intensive and require sophisticated programming techniques (mesh problems). Cellular automata, when they can be used, are invaluable because of the speed of the computations, the simplicity of the programming involved, and the ability to directly visualize the evolution of “patterns” generated by these systems (interfaces, crystals, hydrodynamic structures, flame fronts, etc.).
