Paper 2, Section II, B

Mathematical Biology
Part II, 2014

An activator-inhibitor system is described by the equations

ut=auvu2+d12ux2vt=v2vu2+d22vx2\begin{aligned} \frac{\partial u}{\partial t} &=\frac{a u}{v}-u^{2}+d_{1} \frac{\partial^{2} u}{\partial x^{2}} \\ \frac{\partial v}{\partial t} &=v^{2}-\frac{v}{u^{2}}+d_{2} \frac{\partial^{2} v}{\partial x^{2}} \end{aligned}

where a,d1,d2>0a, d_{1}, d_{2}>0.

Find the range of aa for which the spatially homogeneous system has a stable equilibrium solution with u>0u>0 and v>0v>0. Determine when the equilibrium is a stable focus, and sketch the phase diagram for this case (restricting attention to u>0u>0 and v>0)v>0).

For the case when the homogeneous system is stable, consider spatial perturbations proportional to cos(kx)\cos (k x) of the solution found above. Briefly explain why the system will be stable to spatial perturbations with very small or very large kk. Find conditions for the system to be unstable to a spatial perturbation (for some range of kk which need not be given). Sketch the region satisfying these conditions in the (a,d1/d2)\left(a, d_{1} / d_{2}\right) plane.

Find kck_{c}, the critical wavenumber at the onset of instability, in terms of aa and d1d_{1}.