Bifurcations which destroy the out-of-phase mode in a pair of linearly coupled relaxation oscillators (Q1097997)

For a system of coupled van der Pol equations of the form \[ (1)\quad \epsilon x''=(1-x^ 2)x'+x=\alpha (y-x)+\beta (y'-x'),\quad \epsilon y''-(1-y^ 2)y'+y=\alpha (x\cdot y)+\beta (x'-y') \] an out-of-phase mode is a solution (x(t), y(t)) where \(x(t)=-y(t)\not\equiv 0\). If \(w(t)=x(t)=-y(t)\) for such a solution, w(t) solves \[ (2)\quad \epsilon w''-(1-2\beta -w^ 2)w'+(1+2\alpha)w=0 \] and for \(\beta <1/2,\alpha >- 1/2\), this is in standard van der Pol form in the sense that it admits a non-constant periodic relaxation oscillation. The author studies how this oscillation depends on \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\) as \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\) vary in a neighborhood of (-1/2,1/2) using standard Hopf bifurcation techniques. In fact, it seems fairly easy to see directly that if, for example, \(\alpha <-1/2,\beta >1/2\), all solutions w(t) of (2) together with their derivatives \(w'(t)\) approach 0 as \(t\to \infty\); i.e., all out-of-phase modes of (1) tend to disappear as \(t\to \infty\).