Criteria for the stability of spatial extensions of fixed points and periodic orbits of differential equations in dimension 2 (Q5940285)

The paper investigates the stability properties of spatially homogeneous steady or periodic solutions of partial differential equations of the type \[ \partial_t u = f(u) + C \Delta u, \] where \(C\) is a coupling matrix. This type of equations covers many important systems like the heat equation, reaction-diffusion equations, Schrödinger equation, and the Ginzburg-Landau equation. It is studied how the diffusion term influences the stability of steadystate or periodic solutions of the ordinary differential equation \(du/dt = f(u)\). The geometric criteria are useful and quite easy to apply to a number of interesting systems.