Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2001/iii/paper-51/1/b/solution

The linearization of this reduction of the FitzHugh-Nagumo model at its trivial equilibrium point is
A double zero eigenvalue requires both the constant and linear coefficients to vanish. Hence the codimension-two point is
There the polynomial is . The kernel of a linear map of is one-dimensional, so its zero eigenvalue has a nontrivial size-two block in Jordan normal form. This is a reflection-symmetric double-zero point of Bogdanov–Takens bifurcation type, with one stable direction; the nonlinear coefficients are computed below rather than assumed.

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