Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2006 / ii / Paper 3 / 13B / b

A Fourier mode with $q=k^2\ge 0$ evolves under $J-q\mathrm{diag}({\kappa }_1,{\kappa }_2)$. Its trace remains negative for a homogeneously stable positive branch. Its determinant isIf $u_0{\kappa }_2\le s{\kappa }_1$, this is positive for every $q\ge 0$. Otherwise its minimum is attained at $q_{\ast }=(u_0{\kappa }_2-s{\kappa }_1)/(2{\kappa }_1{\kappa }_2)$. Stability requires $D(q_{\ast })>0$, orIn terms of $d=\sqrt{{\kappa }_2/{\kappa }_1}$, the boundary is the positive root of $u_0{d}^2-s=2d\sqrt{s(2u_0^2-u_0)}$:Within $1/2<u_0<s$, all modes decay for $d<d_c$; a finite band grows for $d>d_c$, giving a Turing instability. Equality is neutral at one nonzero wavenumber.

For $s=2$, the positive lower branch $0<u_0<1/2$ is unstable for every $d$. The upper branch is homogeneously stable for $1/2<u_0<2$: it is stable to all modes to the left of $d_c=2+\sqrt{4-2/u_0}$ and unstable to spatial modes to the right. For $u_0>2$ it is already homogeneously unstable. The zero branch is stable to every spatial mode when $r<0$, because its mode eigenvalues are $r-{\kappa }_1{k}^2$ and $-s-{\kappa }_2{k}^2$.