Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2010 / ii / Paper 2 / 7D (Dynamical Systems)

The only equilibrium point is $(0,0)$. Its Jacobian matrix is $\left(\begin{array}{cc}-\mu & 1\\ -1& 0\end{array}\right)$, with characteristic polynomial ${\lambda }^2+\mu \lambda +1$. For $\mu >0$ both eigenvalues have negative real parts, so the origin is locally asymptotically stable.

Use the Lyapunov function $V=(x^2+y^2)/2$. Along a solution,A Lyapunov function is positive away from the equilibrium and nonincreasing along trajectories; its sufficiently small sublevel sets prove stability. Asymptotic stability additionally means nearby trajectories converge to the equilibrium. The basin of attraction is the set of initial states whose forward solutions exist for all positive time and converge to it. Every closed disc of radius at most $\sqrt{3}$ is positively invariant, since $\dot{V}\le 0$ there. The LaSalle invariance principle says that a solution in a compact positively invariant set where $\dot{V}\le 0$ approaches the largest invariant subset of $\{\dot{V}=0\}$. Here that subset is only the origin: on $x=0$, remaining on the line would require $y=0$; the isolated points $x=\pm \sqrt{3},y=0$ on the outer disc do not remain there because $\dot{y}=-x\ne 0$. Hence the closed disc $x^2+y^2\le 3$ lies in the basin of attraction.

This estimate does not assert that the basin is exactly that disc, or the whole plane. For example, choose $R$ so large that $R^2\ge 6(\mu +1)/\mu$ and $R^2>3(\mu +2)/\mu$. The region $x\ge R,y\ge -x$ is positively invariant: on $x=R$ one has $\dot{x}>0$, and on $y=-x$ one has $(x+y{)}^{\cdot }=\mu x^3/3-(\mu +2)x>0$. Within it $\dot{x}\ge \mu x^3/6$, which forces finite-time escape. Thus the attraction is genuinely local. The Lyapunov function gives a rigorous sufficient domain for attraction without identifying its entire boundary.