Complex Systems

Apparent Entropy of Cellular Automata Download PDF

Bruno Martin
Laboratoire d'Informatique et du Parallélisme,
École Normale Supérieure de Lyon,
46, allée d'Italie,
69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France

Abstract

We introduce the notion of apparent entropy on cellular automata that points out how complex some configurations of the space-time diagram may appear to the human eye. We then study, theoretically, if possible, but mainly experimentally through natural examples, the relations between this notion, Wolfram's intuition, and almost everywhere sensitivity to initial conditions.