Planar and screw-shaped solutions for a system of two reaction-diffusion equations on the circle (Q862168)

This paper deals with autonomous systems of reaction-diffusion equations \[ u_t=u_{xx}+h(u^2+v^2)u-cv,\quad v_t=v_{xx}+h(u^2+v^2)v+cu \] on the unit circle, i.e., \(x\in S^1\). It is assumed that the \(C^1\)-function \(h:[0,\infty)\to{\mathbb R}\) is bounded from above and \(c\) is a real constant. The author shows that the elements of the \(\omega\)-limit sets for every solution allow a classification using their winding number, i.e., the number of times which they wind around the circle line: either they are flat or screw-shaped. A Poincaré-Bendixson result is shown, as well as a criterion under which periodic or screw-shaped stationary solutions are unstable.