Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / iii / Paper 331 / 3 / d / Solution

Differentiate the quadratic energy:For $x_1\ne 0$, put $r=x_2/x_1$. Immediate energy growth occurs precisely when ${\lambda }_2{r}^2+r+{\lambda }_1>0$. With both eigenvalues negative, such directions exist iff $1-4{\lambda }_1{\lambda }_2>0$. Writing $\delta =\sqrt{1-4{\lambda }_1{\lambda }_2}$, the growing initial conditions are the two opposite open wedgesIf $x_1=0$, energy decreases. No energy growth at any time, for any initial condition, is possible exactly whenIndeed, this makes the symmetric part of a matrix $H$ a negative semidefinite matrix, so $\dot{E}\le 0$ along every trajectory. If the product is smaller, the wedges already supply counterexamples at $t=0$. This is the instantaneous energy-growth criterion for a linear system.