TFY4305 Solutions Exercise Set 1 2014: Problem 2.2.3
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Abu Bakar SiddiqueTFY4305 Solutions Exercise Set 1 2014: Problem 2.2.3
Uploaded by
Abu Bakar SiddiqueTFY4305 solutions exercise set 1 2014
Problem 2.2.3
The equation reads
x = x(1 x2 ) ,
(1)
The fixed points are the solutions to x(1 x2 ) = 0. This yields
x = 1 .
x=0,
(2)
Furthermore, f 0 (x) = 1 3x2 Since f 0 (x = 0) = 1, x = 0 is an unstable fixed point. Since
f 0 (x = 1) = 2, x = 1 are stable fixed points.
fHxL
2
- 1.5
- 1.0
<
- 0.5
0.5
1.0
x
1.5
-1
-2
Figure 1: Vector field including the three fixed points.
The exact solution can be found by separation of variables.
dx
= dt ,
x(1 x2 )
(3)
The left-hand side can be rewritten using partial fractional decomposition.
Z
1 1 1
1 1
dx
x 2x1 2x+1
dt .
(4)
2
Integrating term by term and rearranging yields
1 x2
= t+C ,
ln
2 x2 1
(5)
where C is an integration constant. Exponentiating gives
x2
= Ke2t ,
2
x 1
(6)
where K = e2C . This is quadratic equation for x and can be easily solved. For the upper
sign, we obtain
t
Ke
x(t) = 2t
.
(7)
Ke 1
For the lower sign, we find
t
Ke
x(t) = 2t
.
Ke + 1
(8)
q
K
Note that the solutions tend to x = 1 as t . In the first case, we have x(0) = K1
and corresponds
to the initial condition where |x(0)| > 1. In the second case, we have
q
K
x(0) = K+1 and corresponds to the initial condition where |x(0)| < 1. If the initial
condition is x(0) = 1, we are at a stable fixed point and we have x(t) = 1 for all t.
Finally if x(0) = 0, we start at the unstable fixed point and remain there. Also note the
inflection points at x = 13 .
xHtL
1.5
1.0
0.5
t
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
- 0.5
- 1.0
- 1.5
Figure 2: Exact solution for various initial values as explained in main text.
Problem 2.4.7
We have
x = ax x3 .
(9)
The fixed points are found by solving ax x3 . x = 0 is always a fixed point and x = a
for a > 0. Moreover,
f 0 (x) = a 3x2 ,
(10)
and therefore f (x = 0) = a. x = 0 is thus unstable for a > 0 and stable for a < 0. For
a = 0, we have f (x) = x3 which is negative
for positive xand vice versa. Hence x = 0 is
a stable fixed point for a = 0. For x = a, we have f 0 ( a) = 2a which is negative for
positive a and hence these fixed points are stable.
Problem 2.6.1
The point is that the harmonic oscillator is not a first-order system. It is a system of two
coupled differential equations. Define x = y. This yields
my = kx
x = y ,
(11)
(12)
and we conclude that the system is two dimensional and so does not correspond to flow on
the line.
Problem 2.7.6
The dynamics is governed by the equation
x = r + x x3 ,
(13)
where r is a parameter. The potential function V (x) is given by integrating V 0 (x) = f (x) =
r x + x3 . This yields
1
1
V (x) = rx x2 + x4 + C ,
2
4
(14)
where C is an integration constant which we henceforth set to zero.
In order to gain insight into the number and position of fixed points as a function of the
parameter r, it is useful to plot the function g(x) = x3 x and the horizontal line h(x) = r.
The fixed points are then given by the solutions to g(x) = h(x).
The extrema x of g(x) are given by
g 0 (x) = 3x2 1
= 0,
(15)
which gives x
3. This implies that there is one fixed point
= 1/ 3. Thus |g(x )| = 2/3
for |r| > 2/3 3, two fixed points for |r| = 2/3 3 and three fixed points for |r| < 2/3 3.
This is shown in Fig. 3.
4
gHxL
0.2
-1.0
0.5
-0.5
1.0
1.5
3
2.0
-1
Figure 3: Plot of the functions g(x) and the horizontal line h(x) = r for various values of r.
VHxL
1.0
0.5
x
-2
-1
0
2
-0.5
3
3
4
-1.0
3
Figure 4: Plot of the potential V (x) for various values of r.
The potential V (x) is plotted for the same values of r in Fig. 4. For r = 0, we see that
there are two minima, namely x = 1 and one maximum x= 0. These correspond to two
stable fixed points and one unstable fixed point. For r = 2/3 3, we see that the stable fixed
point tothe left of the origin has merged with the unstable minimum and is half-stable. For
r = 4/3 3, there is only stable fixed point to the right of the origin.
