Stability and bifurcation in delay-differential equations with two delays (Q1304678)

The authors consider the nonlinear differential-difference equation \[ \dot x(t)=f(x(t),x(t-\tau_1),x(t-\tau_2)),\tag{1} \] where \(\tau_1,\;\tau_2\) are positive constants, \(f(0,0,0)=0\), and \(f:\mathbb{R}\times \mathbb{R}\times \mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{R}\) is continuously differentiable. First, the local stability of the zero solution to (1) is investigated. Second, it is shown that the two delay equation exhibits Hopf bifurcation and that the Hopf bifurcation is supercritical and the bifurcating periodic solutions are orbitally stable under certain conditions. Results of the paper improve some of the results obtained by \textit{J. Bélair} and \textit{S. A. Campbell} [SIAM J. Appl. Math. 54, No. 5, 1402-1424 (1994; Zbl 0809.34077)].