Paper 4, Section I, A

Mathematical Biology
Part II, 2010

A concentration u(x,t)u(x, t) obeys the differential equation

ut=Duxx+f(u)\frac{\partial u}{\partial t}=D u_{x x}+f(u)

in the domain 0xL0 \leqslant x \leqslant L, with boundary conditions u(0,t)=u(L,t)=0u(0, t)=u(L, t)=0 and initial condition u(x,0)=u0(x)u(x, 0)=u_{0}(x), and where DD is a positive constant. Assume f(0)=0f(0)=0 and f(0)>0f^{\prime}(0)>0. Linearising the dynamics around u=0u=0, and representing u(x,t)u(x, t) as a suitable Fourier expansion, show that the condition for the linear stability of u=0u=0 can be expressed as the following condition on the domain length

L<π[Df(0)]1/2L<\pi\left[\frac{D}{f^{\prime}(0)}\right]^{1 / 2}