Bifurcation analysis in a kind of fourth-order delay differential equation (Q1040106)

A class of fourth-order delay differential equation is investigated. By analyzing the associated characteristic equation, the local stability and the existence of Hopf bifurcations are studied. By using the normal form theory and center manifold reduction, explicit formulae are derived which determine the stability, direction and other properties of bifurcating periodic solutions. Finally, some numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate the analytic results.