Paper 2, Section I, C

Mathematical Biology
Part II, 2019

An activator-inhibitor system for u(x,t)u(x, t) and v(x,t)v(x, t) is described by the equations

ut=uv2a+D2ux2vt=vuv2+2vx2\begin{aligned} \frac{\partial u}{\partial t} &=u v^{2}-a+D \frac{\partial^{2} u}{\partial x^{2}} \\ \frac{\partial v}{\partial t} &=v-u v^{2}+\frac{\partial^{2} v}{\partial x^{2}} \end{aligned}

where a,D>0a, D>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.

For the case when the homogeneous system is stable, consider spatial perturbations proportional to cos(kx)\cos (k x) to the equilibrium solution found above. Give a condition on DD in terms of aa for the system to have a Turing instability (a spatial instability).