Lateral inhibition in relaxation oscillators provides a basis for computation

Abstract

Coupled relaxation oscillators, realized via chemical or other means, can exhibit a multiplicity of steady states, characterized by spatial patterns resulting from lateral inhibition. We show that perturbation-initiated transformations between these configurations, mapped to binary strings via coarse-graining, provide a basis for computation. The rules governing these transitions emerge from an underlying effective energy landscape shaped by the global and local stabilities of these states. Our results suggest a framework by which far-from-equilibrium systems may encode a computational logic.