Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2002/iii/paper-56/2/c/solution

Only the upper equilibrium can have zero trace with positive determinant. Setting gives
At this point the determinant is , so the angular frequency is . Moreover , so the trace crosses zero transversely as increases. The stipulated supercritical Hopf bifurcation creates a stable periodic orbit on the side where the upper equilibrium becomes unstable.
The steady-state curves are the vertical lines and in the plane. The Hopf parabola has its endpoint at
There the Jacobian has trace and determinant zero but is not the zero matrix: it has a nilpotent Jordan block. This is the codimension-two Takens-Bogdanov point. The intersection of the Hopf curve with at concerns a different equilibrium from the transcritical crossing at the origin; it is not another double-zero equilibrium.

New to topics? Read the docs here!