Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-algebra-analysis-and-differential-equations-2-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2012/7/a/iv/solution

A centre equilibrium of the linearized real planar system has
After a real invertible linear change of coordinates, the system is a constant angular rotation. Its nonzero orbits are ellipses of period , so it is stable but not asymptotically stable. This is a classification of the linearization: a centre in the linearization need not be a nonlinear centre. In particular, imaginary eigenvalues alone do not prove a nonlinear centre equilibrium, which requires a punctured neighbourhood filled with periodic orbits. Part (c) illustrates exactly this limitation.

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