Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-further-mathematical-biology-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/3/c/solution

For a spatially uniform steady state with nonzero bacteria abundance, forces . The nutrient balance then gives
To test spatially uniform linear stability, write
At the positive equilibrium, the Jacobian matrix is
Its eigenvalues are , both negative, so the positive equilibrium is asymptotically stable against spatially uniform perturbations. This remains true at , where a repeated eigenvalue may produce a decaying contribution. The printed stability claim must be understood in this spatially uniform sense: sufficiently strong chemotaxis can destabilize nonuniform perturbations, as the next answer shows.

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