Paper 4, Section II, C

Mathematical Biology
Part II, 2018

An activator-inhibitor reaction diffusion system is given, in dimensionless form, by

ut=d2ux2+u2v2bu,vt=2vx2+u2v\frac{\partial u}{\partial t}=d \frac{\partial^{2} u}{\partial x^{2}}+\frac{u^{2}}{v}-2 b u, \quad \frac{\partial v}{\partial t}=\frac{\partial^{2} v}{\partial x^{2}}+u^{2}-v

where dd and bb are positive constants. Which symbol represents the concentration of activator and which the inhibitor? Determine the positive steady states and show, by an examination of the eigenvalues in a linear stability analysis of the spatially uniform situation, that the reaction kinetics are stable if b<12b<\frac{1}{2}.

Determine the conditions for the steady state to be driven unstable by diffusion, and sketch the (b,d)(b, d) parameter space in which the diffusion-driven instability occurs. Find the critical wavenumber kck_{c} at the bifurcation to such a diffusion-driven instability.