= Critical slowing down
{title2=$\tau\to\infty$}
Critical slowing down is the divergence of a relaxation time as a stable <equilibrium point> approaches loss of hyperbolicity. For a scalar <ordinary differential equation> it occurs when $f'(N^*)\uparrow0$ and the <recovery time of a stable equilibrium> $-1/f'(N^*)$ diverges. At the threshold, nonlinear terms may replace exponential decay by algebraic decay; for example $N'=-kN^3$ has $N(t)\sim(2kt)^{-1/2}$ for positive initial data.
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