Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / ii / Paper 2 / 33A / d / Solution

The fixed point branches and their stability are as follows.

which is a negative-definite matrix, so this branch is stable.

Thus the $x$-versus-$\mu$ bifurcation diagram has the stable $x=0$ branch up to $\mu =1$, a stable branch $x=\sqrt{\mu -1}$ joining the bifurcation points $(1,0)$ and $(2,1)$, and the branch $x=\sqrt{\mu /2}$ changing from unstable to stable at $\mu =2$. The origin branch also lies at $x=0$ but remains unstable throughout.