Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2002/iii/paper-56/2/c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 56 2 c Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Only the upper equilibrium can have zero trace with positive determinant. Setting givesAt 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 atThere 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.
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