A quantum prisoner's dilemma cellular automaton

Abstract

The dynamics of a spatial quantum formulation of the iterated prisoner's dilemma game is studied in this work. The game is played in the cellular automata manner, i.e. with local and synchronous interaction. The evolution is driven by the imitation of the best neighbour. It is shown how spatial structure enables in fully quantum contests a dramatically rapid emergence of mutual cooperation. In unfair contests, such as quantum versus classic players, the velocity in which the quantum players take advantage of its privileged status is also very notable.