Stability of Critical Points in a System of DEs

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on finding the stationary solutions and determining the stability of the system of differential equations defined by x' = x - x^3 - xy^2 and y' = 2y - y^5 - x^4y. The critical points identified include (0,0) and others derived from the equations, leading to a total of 12 critical points. The analysis shows that the linearization around the critical point (0,0) results in α' = α, indicating that (0,0) is an unstable critical point as α grows without bound over time.

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Homework Statement


Find the stationary solution(s) of the following system of DE and determine its stability:
x'=x-x^3-xy^2.
y'=2y-y^5-x^4y.

Homework Equations


x'=0, y'=0.
Expansion of x and y around the critical point: x=x_0+\alpha, y=y_0+\beta.

The Attempt at a Solution


I solved x'=y'=0, this gave me x= \pm \sqrt {1-y^2} or x=0. And y=\pm \sqrt {\pm \sqrt {2-x^4}}. Which is likely to give me 12 critical points. Let's consider the (0,0) first...
I expanded x around x_0=y_0=0 via x=x_0+\alpha. I reached that "x'=x-x^3-xy^2" linearizes as \alpha ' \approx \alpha (1-3x_0^2-y_0^2)+x_0-x_0^3-x_0y_0^2-2x_0y_0\beta. Here I see that I'm lucky that I chose first the critical point (0,0) because the linearization reduces to \alpha ' =\alpha and so \alpha =Ae^t. Right here I notice that when t grows up, so does alpha. So that I can already say that (x,y)=(0,0) is not a stable critical point. Is my reasoning right?

P.S.:This is the very first exercise in the assignment of the course dealing with the study of critical points... Looks already quite complicated to me. :/
 
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This looks ok so far.
 
fzero said:
This looks ok so far.

Ok! Very good to know. Thanks for having taught me how to tackle these kind of problems.
 

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