Use the local coordinate . The differential system becomes
For the nonzero quadratic leading term, the coefficient of the local linear ordinary differential equation system has a pole of order four, so infinity is an irregular singular point of Poincaré rank three in this gauge. The matrix-valued function itself has a pole of order two; the extra factor is essential when classifying the equation. If vanishes the degree and these orders decrease. The specified distinct eigenvalues give the nondegenerate unramified case.
The leading exponential function factors have actions , so their difference is . Equal exponential magnitudes occur on
These are commonly called Stokes rays in the sectorial ODE convention. With the action-phase convention used by the wiki's Stokes line article they are anti-Stokes lines; the same-phase rays instead have
Giving both defining equations removes the nomenclature ambiguity; both sets contain six directions.
The standard construction with distinct leading eigenvalues uses six sectorial fundamental solutions per turn, with basic angular spacing . They are fundamental matrices, each containing two independent column solutions. On the logarithm cover choose six consecutive overlapping sectors of width , with small. Their union has angular opening , covering the requested . One often also writes a seventh index to compare the closing sector with the first after a full turn; that is a closing copy, not a seventh independent sector in the six-sector construction. The number is a generic sectorial fundamental solution normalization count, not a universal minimum for exceptional systems with vanishing Stokes matrices: the exactly diagonal system already has one global elementary fundamental matrix.
There is a missing qualification in the requested product identity. Polynomial coefficients give an entire invertible fundamental matrix, hence trivial actual monodromy about a large circle: the circle contracts through ordinary points. But the formal matrix generally has the form , and a positive turn changes its logarithm branch by the formal monodromy . This factor cannot be discarded.
To specify the printed product order, let act on column vectors of solution coefficients across the th sector boundary, so adjacent normalized matrices satisfy . Six transitions give . The normalized formal branch after the turn is , so sectorial uniqueness gives . Consequently
Using Stokes matrices for right changes of fundamental matrices instead reverses/inverts the corresponding convention; the formal monodromy factor remains necessary. The formal monodromy correction to an entire-system Stokes product shows that the printed identity holds when , including the corrected Lax specialization discussed below.
It does not follow from polynomiality alone. For example take
The coefficient matching in question 2 gives , hence and the ordered Stokes matrix product is , not , despite having no finite singularity. This is an explicit counterexample to the unqualified final clause.
Stokes matrix 2026-10-14
Two sectorial fundamental solutions of the same linear system differ on their overlap by a constant invertible right factor, since . With a common formal normalization these factors encode the exponentially small ambiguities invisible to the asymptotic expansion. They are called Stokes matrices. Equivalently their inverses act on column vectors of solution coefficients; the convention must be specified when ordering products.