Network-induced nonequilibrium phase transition in the “game of Life”

A cellular automation model of the "game of Life" on a two-dimensional small-world network is presented in order to count in long-range interactions among living individuals in social or biological systems. The density of the life and its fluctuation are calculated, respectively. The present model exhibits a nonequilibrium phase transition from an "inactive-sparse" state to an "active-dense" one at a certain intermediate value of the network disorder. Employing finite-size scaling analysis, we estimate the location of the critical point with p(c)( infinity ) approximately 0.3685. The transition is of the "second-order" type with power-law diverging length. We obtain the critical exponents 1/nu approximately 1.70, beta approximately 0.50, and beta/nu approximately 0.85. The calculated results indicate that the present model may belong to the universality class of directed percolation.