Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-topics-in-applied-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2011/a/2/b/solution

The travelling-wave reduction of a reaction-diffusion system of Fisher's equation is
Multiplying by and integrating gives , so the decreasing invasion front has . The linearization at has spatial eigenvalues
For they are complex: approaching zero spirals in the plane and changes the sign of , which is inadmissible for a density. Thus is necessary.
It is also sufficient. Write and choose . The triangle
is forward invariant for , . On , . On ,
The boundary points left, and the boundary at consists only of the origin. The unstable branch from the saddle enters this triangle, where decreases and remains nonnegative. Its limiting state must have and ; since it has left , it tends to . Therefore a monotone positive front exists for every , including the double-root endpoint:
This is the Fisher-KPP minimum wave speed, obtained with an explicit invariant-region existence argument.

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