Sequential dynamical system

Sequential dynamical systems (SDSs) are a class of graph

dynamical systems. They are discrete dynamical systems which
generalize many aspects of for example classical cellular automata,
and they provide a framework for studying asynchronous processes
over graphs. The analysis of SDSs uses techniques from
combinatorics, abstract algebra, graph theory, dynamical systems
and probability theory. Phase space of the sequential
dynamical system
Definition
An SDS is constructed from the following components:

A finite graph Y with vertex set v[Y] = {1,2, ... , n}. Depending on the context the
graph can be directed or undirected.
A state xv for each vertex i of Y taken from a finite set K. The system state is the
n-tuple x = (x1, x2, ... , xn), and x[i] is the tuple consisting of the states associated
to the vertices in the 1-neighborhood of i in Y (in some fixed order).
A vertex function fi for each vertex i. The vertex function maps the state of vertex i
at time t to the vertex state at time t + 1 based on the states associated to the 1-
neighborhood of i in Y.
A word w = (w1, w2, ... , wm) over v[Y].

It is convenient to introduce the Y-local maps Fi constructed from the vertex functions by

The word w specifies the sequence in which the Y-local maps are composed to derive the sequential
dynamical system map F: Kn → Kn as

If the update sequence is a permutation one frequently speaks of a permutation SDS to emphasize this
point. The phase space associated to a sequential dynamical system with map F: Kn → Kn is the finite
directed graph with vertex set Kn and directed edges (x, F(x)). The structure of the phase space is governed
by the properties of the graph Y, the vertex functions (fi)i, and the update sequence w. A large part of SDS
research seeks to infer phase space properties based on the structure of the system constituents.

Example
Consider the case where Y is the graph with vertex set {1,2,3} and undirected edges {1,2}, {1,3} and
{2,3} (a triangle or 3-circle) with vertex states from K = {0,1}. For vertex functions use the symmetric,
boolean function nor : K3 → K defined by nor(x,y,z) = (1+x)(1+y)(1+z) with boolean arithmetic. Thus, the
only case in which the function nor returns the value 1 is when all the arguments are 0. Pick w = (1,2,3) as
update sequence. Starting from the initial system state (0,0,0) at time t = 0 one computes the state of vertex
1 at time t=1 as nor(0,0,0) = 1. The state of vertex 2 at time t=1 is nor(1,0,0) = 0. Note that the state of
vertex 1 at time t=1 is used immediately. Next one obtains the state of vertex 3 at time t=1 as nor(1,0,0) = 0.
This completes the update sequence, and one concludes that the Nor-SDS map sends the system state
(0,0,0) to (1,0,0). The system state (1,0,0) is in turned mapped to (0,1,0) by an application of the SDS map.

See also
Graph dynamical system
Boolean network
Gene regulatory network
Dynamic Bayesian network
Petri net

References
Henning S. Mortveit, Christian M. Reidys (2008). An Introduction to Sequential Dynamical
Systems. Springer. ISBN 978-0387306544.
Predecessor and Permutation Existence Problems for Sequential Dynamical Systems (htt
p://www.emis.de/journals/DMTCS/pdfpapers/dmAB0106.pdf)
Genetic Sequential Dynamical Systems (https://arxiv.org/abs/math.DS/0603370)

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