Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / iii / Paper 331 / 3 / b / ii

Put $a=\mu -k^2=Q^2>0$. The shared travelling phase again cancels advection in the nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau equation; the remaining amplitude ordinary differential equation isFor $R>0$, $Y=R^2$ obeys the logistic differential equation $Y^{\prime }=2Y(a-Y)$. Equivalently, $Z=1/Y$ solves $Z^{\prime }=-2aZ+2$, whence $Z(t)=a^{-1}+(R_0^{-2}-a^{-1})e^{-2at}$. The nonconstant cubic amplitude saturation solution isIt takes the specified $R_0$ at $t=0$. The denominator of the cubic amplitude saturation solution remains positive for all future time: if $R_0<Q$ its bracket exceeds one, and if $R_0>Q$ it lies between $Q^2/R_0^2$ and one. Thus the positive solution is global forward in time. $R_0=Q$ would give the excluded constant solution; $R_0=0$ would remain at zero rather than relax to the positive wave.