Stability of fast travelling pulse solutions of the FitzHugh-Nagumo equations (Q1059568): Difference between revisions

The author considers the FitzHugh-Nagumo equations \[ u_ t=u_{xx}+f(u)-w,\quad w_ t=b(u-dw),\quad -\infty <x<\infty,\quad b>0,\quad d\geq 0, \] with f(u) satisfying the conditions: \[ f(0)=f(1)=f(a)=0;\quad f'(0)<0,\quad f'(1)<0; \] \[ f(u)>0\quad for\quad u\in (-\infty,0)\cup (a,1)\quad and\quad <0\quad for\quad u\in (0,a)\cup (1,+\infty),\quad a\in (0,1); \] \[ f(u)-u/d\neq 0\quad if\quad u\neq 0;\quad \int^{1}_{0}f(u)du>0; \] which are known to have two different travelling pulse solutions (a 'slow' and a 'fast' one) when b is sufficiently small. The following two results are proved: Theorem 3.1.: The 'fast pulse' solution is exponentially stable if \(b>0\) is sufficiently small and if \(d>0.\) Theorem 3.2.: The 'fast pulse' solution is marginally stable but not exponentially stable if \(b>0\) is sufficiently small and if \(d=0\).