Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-nonlinear-systems-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/2/b/solution

The Jacobian matrix at the origin and its characteristic polynomial are
The fixed-point multipliers are
By the Jury stability criterion, both lie strictly inside the unit circle exactly when
The last condition always holds, since . Therefore the origin is asymptotically stable exactly for among the hyperbolic parameter values.
For completeness, its linear stability throughout the parameter line is as follows. When , the complex-conjugate Floquet multipliers have modulus , so the origin repels. When , their modulus is , so it attracts with oscillation. At the repeated Floquet multiplier is , still attracting. For , both Floquet multipliers are real and in . For , and , so one Floquet multiplier lies in and the other exceeds one: the origin is a saddle fixed point of a map. For , the complex-conjugate Floquet multipliers have modulus , so it repels.
Possible changes at the unit circle are exhausted by , , or a nonreal pair with product one. They give
At the Floquet multipliers are ; the nonzero fixed point branches in part (a) meet the origin, and part (c) identifies a subcritical pitchfork bifurcation. Indeed at the exact restricted map is , which makes the origin unstable despite its neutral linear direction.
At the Floquet multipliers are : this is a 1:4 strong resonance of a planar map, coinciding with the change from repelling to attracting as increases. A generic nonresonant Neimark–Sacker bifurcation conclusion would be unjustified. At there is a double Floquet multiplier ; the matrix has a nontrivial Jordan block, and the two further nonzero fixed point branches meet the origin. Linear stability alone is inconclusive at these unit-modulus boundary values. The repeated Floquet multiplier at is strictly inside the unit circle and gives no bifurcation.

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