A stability index for steady state solutions of boundary value problems for parabolic systems (Q1176508)

The authors study a boundary value problem for a system of ODE \[ Du''+f(x,u,u')=0,\quad A^ 0u(0)+B^ 0u'(0)=0,\quad A'u'(1)+B'u'(1)=0 \] with \(u:[0,1]\to\mathbb{R}^ n\) and \(D\), \(A^ i\), \(B^ j\) all diagonal matrices. The tools are a suitable complex vector bundle over a real 2-sphere and a suitable analytic function \(D(\lambda)\) of the eigenvalue parameter of the linearized operator \(L\) about a layered special solution. The central theorem asserts that the stability index, which is defined to be the first Chern number \(c_ 1({\mathcal E}(K))\) of \({\mathcal E}(K)\), equals the number of eigenvalues of \(L\) inside \(K\).