Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2004 / iii / Paper 76 / 4 / a / ii

Again put $T=ϵt$. To leading order the oscillator has form $x_0=k-r(T)\cos (t+\varphi (T))$, while the second variable has a slow part $Y(T)$. Averaging its equation over the fast period givesThe oscillatory forcing of the second variable produces only an order-$ϵ$ correction: its leading fast derivative is $-r(T)\cos t$, whose bounded primitive is $-r(T)\sin t$. Thus it creates no secular term.

The oscillator solvability condition is the same as in part (i), with $c$ replaced by $Y(T)$:Introduce accumulated slow timeThe shifted Van der Pol amplitude evolution therefore gives, for $a=k^2-1$,ConsequentlyAs before, uniformity for $t=O({ϵ}^{-1})$ means a fixed bounded slow-time interval on which the envelope stays bounded. For $k^2>4/5$ it fails when $S(T)$ reaches $\log (5-4/k^2)/(k^2-1)$, with limiting value $4$ at $k=1$. There is no bounded leading approximation covering all such slow times for arbitrary positive $k$.