Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-topics-in-applied-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2008/a/4/e/solution
Past exam of the topics in applied mathematics course of the University of Oxford 2008 A 4 e Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Here and , so a perturbation varying in both coordinates has andWith the given unit coefficients the determinant becomes . The trace remains negative, so instability occurs precisely when , orThe right-hand side is strictly increasing for , since its derivative is . Its smallest allowed value is attained by the mode , giving the onset thresholdAt this value the first mixed mode has a zero eigenvalue; it becomes unstable for . Thus the critical value is the infimum of the strictly unstable range, rather than a strictly unstable point itself. Its spatial factor is .
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