Quasi stable stationary solution

Fig. 2.5. A quasi-species-type mutant distribution around a master sequence. The quasi-species is an ordered distribution of polynucleotide sequences (RNA or DNA) in sequence space. A fittest genotype or master sequence /m, which is commonly present at highest frequency, is surrounded in sequence space by a cloud of closely related sequences. Relatedness of sequences is expressed (in terms of error classes) by the number of mutations which are required to produce them as mutants of the master sequence. In case of point mutations the distance between sequences is the Hamming distance. In precise terms, the quasi-species is defined as the stable stationary solution of Eq. (2) [16,19, 20], In reality, such a stationary solution exists only if the error rate of replication lies below a maximal value called the error threshold. In this region, i.e. below...

The theory of shape selection has been examined by many investigators concerned with solidification from the melt, and its status has recently been reviewed by Caroli and Muller-Krumbauer [63], The problem is to find stable, quasi-stationary solutions to the diffusion equation where a propagating branch maintains a constant shape and velocity. If the interface is assumed to have a uniform concentration, a family of such solutions exists, but there is no unique solution owing to the lack of a characteristic length. The solutions fix the peclet number. 

This solution describes a population which has completely died out. The solution is stable because from nothing comes nothing . Besides this trivial solution, however, there exists a quasi-stationary solution for which the eventual extinction occurs extremely slowly. 

Experiment 6. Lastly, yet another type of solution emerges when but minor parameter changes are made. These lead, however, to a structural change in the pattern of singular points. With the parameters of Fig. 5.9 a, for example, there occur five singular points two of these are stable attractors for a phase transition, upon which the formerly quasi-periodic motion breaks down and quickly ends in a stationary solution (such as long term temporary over- or ui erem-ployment equilibra [5.21]. Here, the stationary solution is reached with d 0.5 and X -0.8 (Fig. 5.9b). 

Let us imagine a scenario for which a supercritical Hopf bifurcation occurs as one of the parameters, fi say, is increased. For fi < fi, the stationary state is locally stable. At fi there is a Hopf bifurcation the stationary state loses stability and a stable limit cycle emerges. The limit cycle grows as ft increases above fi. It is quite possible for there to be further bifurcations in the system if we continue to vary fi. With three variables we might expect to have period-doubling sequences or transitions to quasi-periodicity such as those seen with the forced oscillator of the previous section. Such bifurcations, however, will not be signified by any change in the local stability of the stationary state. These are bifurcations from the oscillatory solution, and so we must test the local stability of the limit cycle. We now consider how to do this. 

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