Logistic front of a bistable cubic equation 2026-10-14
For the decreasing front connecting to , the balanced stationary travelling-wave reduction of a reaction-diffusion system has first integral . Choosing the negative derivative gives and hence . This logistic profile remains an exact travelling wave when the reaction parameter differs from : using , its derivative is , and the wave equation is satisfied for . Thus the speed changes with the potential bias while the shape, apart from translation, does not.
Past exam of the further mathematical biology course of the University of Oxford 2023 2 b Solution 2026-10-25
There is a consistency issue in the printed model. If is imposed while retaining its evolution equation, then forces . Thus the full two-equation system has no nonconstant travelling wave with exactly constant . Its constant solution exists only when . The intended wave calculation must treat the recovery variable as externally frozen, leaving the scalar reaction-diffusion equationFor this frozen-recovery reduction, letThe cubic polynomial has a local minimum at and a local maximum at . Hence the conditiongives three distinct real roots of , withThe outer roots are stable for the scalar spatially uniform dynamics and the middle root is unstable. Seek a travelling wave , where . The travelling-wave reduction of a reaction-diffusion system givesLet and chooseIt has , andSubstitution leavesConsequently the frozen-recovery cubic front isReflection reverses the front and its speed. A nonzero speed requires ; equality gives a stationary front and is the Maxwell balance for a scalar reaction-diffusion front. Since the roots sum to , this stationary value is . For the simple admissible choice , the roots are andThis particular front moves when . At , other currents inside the displayed open interval give moving fronts.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 75 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write the reaction term as and assume . At , multiply the stationary travelling-wave reduction of a reaction-diffusion system by and integrate once. Since at both asymptotic phases and , the integration constant is zero:The boundary orientation selects . Separating variables gives the logistic front of a bistable cubic equation, with arbitrary center :The arbitrary translation is expected from translation invariance.
To develop the requested perturbation theory, let with signed , introduce slow time , and put . Seekwhere . The explicit derivative of is second order. Since , the first-order equation isDifferentiation of gives . The self-adjoint differential operator has this decaying translation mode, and at both ends because the phases remain exactly and . Multiplying the first-order equation by and integrating by parts makes its left side zero. Therefore the translation-mode solvability for a bistable front requiresBoth integrals can be evaluated without a special-function formula. The decreasing profile takes from to and has , soandThe resulting speed isThis derives the velocity by the Fredholm solvability condition, rather than substituting a guessed speed.
With this value, the forcing actually cancels pointwise: . Thus . The decaying kernel is only the translation direction: an independent solution is , which grows at at least one infinity. Fixing the center by consequently gives . In this particular bistable cubic reaction-diffusion equation the absence of shape deformation holds to all orders. Indeed , and the exact moving-frame equation has left side . Thereforeis the exact front for every . For , and the phase advances to the right; for the phase advances to the left. The small-bias speed is consistent with the prescribed scaling.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 64 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a nonconstant invasion travelling wave, the relevant end states are and . These fronts do not exist at every nonnegative speed: the phase plane calculation gives the threshold . The constant solutions and are, of course, nonnegative travelling waves for every speed, including zero.
Put and . The travelling-wave reduction of a reaction-diffusion system givesThe equilibrium points in the phase plane are and . At the characteristic equation is , so there is one positive and one negative eigenvalue. Thus it is a saddle equilibrium. Its descending unstable manifold has , and locallyAt the eigenvalues areFor it is a stable node; for it is a stable spiral. The repeated-root case must be included in the existence argument rather than inferred from distinct roots.
Suppose . Choose with ; for example . Consider the closed triangular regionOn the horizontal side , the vector field has , pointing into . On the vertical side , it has , again pointing inward. For the sloping side use , so that on ,Thus trajectories cannot cross into . The remaining boundary point is an equilibrium point and cannot be crossed in finite time by a nonconstant trajectory, by uniqueness theorem for ordinary differential equations. This proves forward invariance of . The argument works unchanged at with .
The descending unstable manifold of initially enters . Its forward trajectory remains in this compact region, so it exists for all positive . Within the interior, : a first contact with at would have , contrary to arrival from below. Hence decreases strictly and has a limit . To identify the limit, its omega-limit set lies on the line and is invariant. Any trajectory remaining on this line has ; its second equation then forces . Since , it follows that , and the only possible omega-limit set is . Backward in , the unstable manifold tends to by its construction. We have therefore obtained a positive decreasing heteroclinic orbit and hence a nonnegative travelling wave for every .
For completeness, the threshold is necessary for such a front. When , put , , and . Near the zero equilibrium point the system becomesFor a nonzero trajectory its polar angle satisfiesA trajectory approaching zero therefore makes infinitely many rotations and must cross . It cannot be a nonnegative front. At , the first integralis conserved. It has values and at the two desired end states, so no heteroclinic orbit connects them. ConsequentlyThis is the phase-plane construction of a Fisher travelling front, including the critical speed. The statement for all must distinguish these nonconstant fronts from the two constant travelling waves.
The travelling-wave reduction of a reaction-diffusion system of Fisher's equation isMultiplying by and integrating gives , so the decreasing invasion front has . The linearization at has spatial eigenvaluesFor they are complex: approaching zero spirals in the plane and changes the sign of , which is inadmissible for a density. Thus is necessary.
It is also sufficient. Write and choose . The triangleis forward invariant for , . On , . On ,The boundary points left, and the boundary at consists only of the origin. The unstable branch from the saddle enters this triangle, where decreases and remains nonnegative. Its limiting state must have and ; since it has left , it tends to . Therefore a monotone positive front exists for every , including the double-root endpoint:This is the Fisher-KPP minimum wave speed, obtained with an explicit invariant-region existence argument.
