Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 59 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use local coordinates , at . The Jacobian matrix, its trace and its determinant areConsequently is attracting when , repelling when , and a saddle equilibrium when . A transition between a node and a focus at changes the linear geometry but is not a bifurcation of the local topological phase portrait.
The stationary bifurcation curve is . To identify it, write , . At a non-equatorial equilibrium point, eliminating givesNear , if , these yield and . The two branches are related by the local reflection . Their determinants are , so they are saddle equilibria. This is a pitchfork bifurcation; on the portion with the saddle branches lie on the side where is stable, giving a subcritical pitchfork bifurcation.
A Hopf bifurcation requires , henceThe oscillation frequency is . At the intersection , but : there is a double zero eigenvalue with one eigenvector. The map from to has nonzero Jacobian determinant, so two independent parameter conditions produce this codimension-two bifurcation. Reflection removes quadratic terms; the appropriate initial comparison is with a reflection-symmetric cubic double-zero normal form, subject to the cubic degeneracy checked below.
For completeness, the printed vector field has a subcritical, rather than supercritical, Hopf bifurcation. In the mechanical coordinates , , at its cubic acceleration has coefficient and coefficient . For a small harmonic oscillation, the averaged cubic change of is , whereThus a small unstable periodic orbit lies on the attracting side of the Hopf bifurcation. This calculation matters when comparing the original equations with the later assumed normal form.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 85 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
At the origin's matrix is : it has a double zero eigenvalue and one eigenvector. Trace and determinant vary independently with and there, so two parameters are needed. The symmetry of an odd function removes quadratic terms, giving a reflection-symmetric cubic double-zero normal form. The quadratic nonlinearity required for a generic Bogdanov–Takens bifurcation vanishes.
Use a prime for differentiation with respect to the rescaled time. Direct substitution, with all rescaled variables written without tildes, givesAt , the equations are , . Fordifferentiation gives . This is the Hamiltonian blow-up of a reflection-symmetric double-zero point.
For , the equilibrium points are a centre equilibrium at and saddles at . The centre equilibrium has eigenvalues ; at either saddle equilibrium they are . Levels contain closed inner ovals around the centre equilibrium. The saddle equilibrium level hasThese two branches form a heteroclinic cycle connecting the saddles. The branch with runs from the lower saddle equilibrium to the upper one because ; the other runs back. Outside the potential well, trajectories are open. The right panel of the preceding figure uses the coordinates to display the well and these directed connections.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 85 1 b Solution 2026-10-14
Set and rescale , . The reflection-symmetric cubic double-zero normal form becomesIt is invariant under . Thus the large- case has and the small- case . At the origin the Jacobian matrix has determinant and trace : it is a saddle for , stable for , and unstable for . In the latter two cases the discriminant distinguishes nodes from foci; its zero is not an equilibrium-creation bifurcation.
The nonzero equilibria satisfy , . At either of them the determinant is and the trace is . Therefore for , a pair of saddles exists when , while for , a pair of attracting equilibria exists when , and a repelling pair when . The repelling or attracting points may be nodes or foci. Their origin collision occurs on the pitchfork bifurcation line , away from . For fixed , the scalar centre equation there beginsFor , the large- case is a subcritical pitchfork and the small- case a supercritical pitchfork. For , the scalar criticality reverses, but there is already an unstable transverse eigenvalue, so the full-plane branches have the stability just listed.
At the origin, , is a Hopf bifurcation with frequency . Averaging the leading weakly nonlinear oscillator gives the amplitude equationConsequentlyThese are respectively a supercritical Hopf bifurcation and a subcritical Hopf bifurcation, with fixed and the cycle sufficiently small. The portraits change from a stable focus to an unstable focus surrounded by a stable cycle in the first case; in the second, a stable focus is surrounded by an unstable cycle before the focus becomes unstable and that cycle disappears.
The small- case has an additional pair of Hopf bifurcations at the nonzero equilibria:Their criticality includes quadratic terms and is not read off from the positive term alone. Set , , and . ThenFor an oscillator , the cubic radial coefficient is . Here it is . Thus both nonzero Hopf bifurcations are supercritical: for small , each newly unstable well equilibrium is surrounded by a stable small cycle with .
To constrain periodic orbits, use either the divergence or the energyFor , the divergence has one strict sign except on a line, and the Bendixson-Dulac criterion excludes every nonconstant periodic orbit. For , the same reasoning excludes every periodic orbit. When the divergence changes sign, this criterion makes no such exclusion; the Hopf cycles above are consistent with that restriction. In the large- case a periodic orbit also requires : if , a positive maximum of would have , or a negative minimum would have negative acceleration, both impossible. For the same extremum argument confines a cycle to , between the two saddle locations. The local bifurcation lines and representative portraits on both sides are summarized below; their global completion requires part (c).
Local bifurcation lines and representative phase portraits for the two signs of the cubic double-zero normal form
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