We solve a problem posed recently by Gravner and Griffeath [4]: to find a finite seed A0 of 1s for a simple {0, l}-valued cellular automaton growth model on Z2 such that the occupied crystal An after n updates spreads with a two-dimensional asymptotic shape and a provably irrational density. Our solution exhibits an initial A0 of 2,392 cells for Conway’s Game Of Life from which An cover nT with asymptotic density (3 - √5/90, where T is the triangle with vertices (0,0), (-1/4,-1/4), and (1/6,0). In “Cellular Automaton Growth on Z2: Theorems, Examples, and Problems” [4], Gravner and Griffeath recently presented a mathematical framework for the study of Cellular Automata (CA) crystal growth and asymptotic shape, focusing on two-dimensional dynamics. For simplicity, at any discrete time n, each lattice site is assumed to be either empty (0) or occupied (1). Occupied sites after n updates grows linearly in each dimension, attaining an asymptotic density p within a limit shape L: . . . n-1 A → p • 1L • (1) . . . This phenomenology is developed rigorously in Gravner and Griffeath [4] for Threshold Growth, a class of monotone solidification automata (in which case p = 1), and for various nonmonotone CA which evolve recursively. The coarse-grain crystal geometry of models which do not fill the lattice completely is captured by their asymptotic density, as precisely formulated in Gravner and Griffeath [4]. It may happen that a varying “hydrodynamic” profile p(x) emerges over the normalized support L of the crystal. The most common scenario, however, would appear to be eq. (1), with some constant density p throughout L. All the asymptotic densities identified by Gravner and Griffeath are rational, corresponding to growth which is either exactly periodic in space and time, or nearly so. For instance, it is shown that Exactly 1 Solidification, in which an empty cell permanently joins the crystal if exactly one of its eight nearest (Moore) neighbors is occupied, fills the plane with density 4/9 starting from a singleton.
