At an equilibrium point of a dynamical system, the second equation gives
The choice is impossible because then . Hence , and substitution into the first equation gives
Thus the unique fixed point is
Choose
which satisfies . Let
We check the direction of the vector field on its four edges.
On ,
On ,
On , where ,
Finally, throughout the system,
On the sloping edge , the bound implies , and hence . Every boundary edge therefore points inward. Violations of the corresponding four inequalities are driven toward the boundary in the same order, so positive trajectories enter this compact trapping region and then remain there. This is the Brusselator trapping region.
The Jacobian matrix at the unique fixed point is
Its determinant and trace are
When , the trace is positive, so linear stability of a planar equilibrium shows that the fixed point is a repeller. It lies in the interior of .
Choose a trajectory in other than the equilibrium. Compactness of gives a nonempty compact omega-limit set, and the repelling equilibrium cannot belong to that set. Since there are no other equilibria, the Poincare-Bendixson theorem gives a periodic orbit. Hence
This is the Brusselator periodic-orbit criterion.
At a nontrivial equilibrium , the equation gives
The equation gives , and conservation of population then yields
These values are positive precisely in the epidemic regime .
Eliminate . The two-dimensional system is
Set . The Jacobian matrix at the endemic equilibrium is
so its eigenvalues satisfy
Their sum is and their product is , proving local asymptotic stability.
The discriminant is
Writing , we have . As ,
whereas as ,
Hence sufficiently slow immunity loss gives a stable focus: approaches through damped oscillations, corresponding to successively smaller epidemic waves. Sufficiently rapid immunity loss gives a stable node: small disturbances are sums of two decaying real modes and show no forced oscillation. These conclusions and the equilibrium formulas are collected in the Endemic equilibrium of the SIR model with waning immunity.
Stability theory 2026-10-06
Stability theory studies the response of a dynamical system to small changes of its state. Linear stability of a planar equilibrium describes the response near equilibria using the linearized evolution.