Exponential density-dependent birth model Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
If a population has per-capita birth rate and per-capita death rate , then
When , its positive equilibrium is
and the derivative of the scalar vector field there is , so the equilibrium is locally asymptotically stable.
Orbital stability 2026-10-06
Orbital stability asks that a disturbance remain close to an invariant orbit or symmetry family, rather than to one fixed representative. In a complex Landau amplitude equation with , , , the circle attracts radial disturbances while every phase on it remains stationary. The family is attracting as a set, but its individual points do not have individual asymptotic stability because their phase is neutral.
Introduce . The pendulum with quadratic damping is the autonomous planar system
Its equilibrium points are . Since the derivative of is zero at zero, the linearization of a dynamical system at each equilibrium point is
At an odd multiple of its eigenvalues are , so it is a saddle equilibrium; the stable and unstable tangents are and . At an even multiple the eigenvalues are . This linearization is a centre and does not decide the nonlinear stability. In particular it would be incorrect to infer a linear damped focus from this Jacobian.
For the full system the mechanical energy is a Lyapunov function near an even equilibrium point:
A sufficiently small sublevel set is compact and contains only that equilibrium point. The only invariant motion with has and , hence is the equilibrium point itself. The LaSalle invariance principle proves asymptotic stability. Near it the trajectories turn clockwise and spiral inward, as the near-linear angular motion persists while energy decreases. Thus even equilibria are nonhyperbolic asymptotically stable spiral points; odd equilibria remain saddles.
Figure 1.
Local phase trajectories near a stable pendulum equilibrium and an unstable saddle with quadratic damping
.
For explicit trajectories put on a branch where . The chain rule gives , so the two signs yield the first-order linear differential equations for , and for . Their integrating factors give
Only portions with a nonnegative right-hand side are physical. At a turning point the constants of the two branches are matched using ; neither expression is one global trajectory through both signs. When they reduce to energy contours, with closed orbits around the even equilibrium points. For every , the quadratic damping destroys those closed orbits and makes the centres attracting spirals. Its effect is higher order in amplitude, so decay is weaker near rest than with linear damping. The saddle equilibria remain unstable, though their separatrices change shape.
Eliminate the instantaneous Stokes flow velocity in favour of temperature. On a horizontal Fourier mode , the Stokes temperature-slaving operator maps to , where and . The temperature evolution has linear operator and bilinear map . Under the homogeneous thermal Dirichlet boundary conditions, is self-adjoint. Normalize its critical eigenfunction as and set ; the critical vertical velocity is .
At order , the critical eigenfunction equation gives . At order , the weakly nonlinear expansion contains the imposed second harmonic and the quadratic products of the critical mode: a horizontally uniform temperature correction proportional to and, in a general vertical-mode calculation, a second harmonic proportional to . These corrections are found by solving the noncritical boundary value problems, with homogeneous thermal data except for the imposed forcing.
At order , the method of multiple scales produces the slow derivative , the detuning term , and the two cross-advection terms involving first- and second-order fields. Project the component onto the adjoint eigenfunction using the vertical inner product. This is the solvability condition in the method of multiple scales: divide each resonant projection by . The detuning supplies with ; interactions of horizontal wavenumbers and permit with ; self-interaction through the slaved mean and second harmonic supplies . Other products have the wrong horizontal wavenumber. Reflection permits real coefficients with this cosine forcing. Thus the symmetry-allowed spatially forced convection amplitude equation is
There is a useful specialization that should not be silently missed. For the literal one-vertical-mode Stokes flow problem, the vanishing two-to-one forcing coefficient for Stokes convection makes at this order. To see this, write a positive second-harmonic forcing component as , incorporating the cosine's factor . Its coupling to the negative critical harmonic has projected integrand, apart from sign and its factor ,
The integral vanishes because at both plates, even though is nonzero. This proves the cancellation without solving the forced profiles. The permitted coefficient is therefore zero times ; symmetry alone does not establish nonzero phase pinning for the equations actually supplied.
The same normalization makes the remaining coefficients explicit. Since , . The quadratic second harmonic cancels for , while the uniform correction is . Projecting gives . Thus for the literal model and this temperature normalization,
A generic nonzero would require a nonvanishing projection in an amended physical model or a different forcing structure. It is still meaningful to classify the real-coefficient amplitude equation requested independently.
Write . Then and . These are a gradient flow for , so local minima give stable equilibrium points. At the origin the two eigenvalues are and . The origin has exponential asymptotic stability if , retains asymptotic stability with algebraic decay at , and is unstable if . At equality, obeys , since both linear coefficients are nonpositive. Integrating this inequality proves attraction even in the zero-eigenvalue direction.
For the stable nonzero equilibrium points are real; for they are imaginary:
The real branch has Jacobian matrix eigenvalues ; the imaginary branch has . The oppositely aligned branch, when it exists, is a saddle equilibrium. No mixed real-imaginary nonzero equilibrium is possible when .
For , the origin is stable for , with algebraic decay at zero. If , the circle is radially attracting. Each point has Lyapunov stability but has a neutral phase direction, so it does not have individual asymptotic stability; the circle has orbital stability. This is the literal model's unpinned family. The general nonzero- branches instead exhibit phase locking to one of two phases separated by .
The direct First Lyapunov theorem says that a continuously differentiable positive-definite function near an equilibrium, with , proves stability. LaSalle invariance principle says that in a compact positively invariant set, trajectories approach the largest invariant subset of . Under the terminology in which “first theorem” means the linearization theorem, eigenvalues with negative real part imply asymptotic stability, while zero-real-part eigenvalues leave the test inconclusive. Here the linearization has eigenvalues , so the direct criterion is needed.
Write and choose
Near zero, is positive definite. Along solutions,
The component containing the origin of a sufficiently small closed sublevel set is compact, lies in and is positively invariant. The set has ; to remain there also requires , so its largest invariant subset is just the origin. The two theorems establish the origin is asymptotically stable.