Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-topics-in-applied-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2009/b/4/a/ii/solution

For , the equilibria are and . At the origin the eigenvalues are , so it is a saddle for every .
At either nonzero point the Jacobian matrix is , with eigenvalues
Both points are attracting for and repelling for . For they are stable foci; for stable nodes. For they are unstable foci; for unstable nodes. At the two repeated-root boundaries they are degenerate nodes. At , linearization has purely imaginary eigenvalues; the conserved energy in the next part shows that they are actual nonlinear centres. Thus the zero-real-part case is resolved by an additional first integral, rather than by the linear test alone.

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