2.1. Matrix Representation of Polynomial Dynamical Systems
In order to propose and apply a general matrix framework for polynomial DSs and in this manner to identify the place of the anzats treated in this study consider the second- and third-order (two- and three-dimensional) polynomial DSs that inolve quasi-polynomials (QPs); the DSs of this class can be written in the general form containing all quadratic terms
or
where dot denotes differentiation with respect to time.
In view of the technique developed in this work, it is convenient to introduce the coefficient 2 x 5 or 3 x 9 matrices associated with DS (
1) or (
2),
Different sets of real coefficients
or
that enter matrices (
3) govern qualitative behaviour of solutions and the occurrence and character of singularities and bifurcations. Note that generally all these DSs are non-integrable.
A well-known particular case of (
1) constitutes linear homogeneous two-dimensional DSs that admit a matrix representation employing a square matrix
(because the number of unknowns equals the number of equations). All their bifurcation types (critical modes) at the origin are identified and classified in terms of the eigenvalues
of the DS coefficient (real-valued) matrix A; more precisely, by the combination of their signs (or of the signs of their imaginary parts if they are complex) and zero values
,
,
,
etc (node (source, sink), saddle, focus, center etc). Every such combination naturally gives rise to a class of equivalence on the set
of square
matrices with real entries characterized by the unique combination of signs of eigenvalues or their real and imaginary parts. Limiting ourselves to the set
of matrices having real nonzero eigenvalues one may identify three such classes (without separating the cases of double roots) denoting them by the ’sign’ vectors
,
, and
. Each class has its particular type of bifurcation at the origin (source, sink, saddle).
One can create general qualitative theory for the DSs described by (
4). However, it is not possible to create any general qualitative theory for the whole DS class described by (
1) or (
2). Therefore, a common practice is that researchers (beginning from Hilbert and Poincare) specify certain sub-classes of quadratic polynomial DSs, mainly in 2D, which are amenable to qualitative analysis. The present study is on this track and picks up a certain sub-class which can be fully investigated as a family of integrable DSs.
In [
2,
5] a detailed qualitative investigation is performed of two-dimensional polynomial DSs and a long list of the relevant publications can be found. A global bifurcation theory of such systems is presented, including particularly the issues connected with solution to the famous Hilbert’s Sixteenth Problem concerning the determination of the maximum number and relative position of limit cycles. In this respect, certain specific families of two-dimensional polynomial DSs (
1) are identified. Particularly, give examples of their so-called canonical forms [
5] with ’mixed’ variables accepted in the literature
with
and the coefficient matrix
or
in (
1) with
in (
1) and the coefficient matrix
or
in (
1) and the coefficient matrices
There is a number of other forms employing different sets of real coefficients characterized each by specific properties of bufircations.
The volume of research and quantity of publication dealing with qualitative analysis of quadratic two-dimensional polynomial DSs may be characterized as enormous; however, many problems remain unsolved. Exemplify the classification of the number and character of finite singularities reported for these systems; particularly for (
11) it is established that there may be one saddle and three antisaddles, three saddles and one antisaddle, two saddles and two antisaddles etc depending on the parameter sets involved.
Qualitative analysis of quadratic three-dimensional polynomial DSs (
2) is less developed; the amount of the obtained results could be hardly compared with that achieved for two-dimensional polynomial DSs. Note in this way a class of the T-systems of the form
and the coefficient matrix composed according to (
3)
The DSs belonging to the class of T-systems are studied in [
22] (we also refer to the references therein), where, among all, the pitchfork and Hopf bifurcations occurring in the T-system are reported as well as the influence of the symmetry of the system on its dynamics. Seemingly simple, these systems require the elaboration of advanced mathematical tools within the frames the singular perturbation and geometric singular perturbation theory [
23].
The latter has become a driving force: in our studies, we address, as well as in this one, a particular integrable family of quadratic autonomous three-dimensional polynomial DSs with ’separated’ variables and free terms
with the coefficient matrix (
3)
Representation (
15) where the number of terms on the right-hand side equals the number of dependent variables enables one to write the corresponding DS in a compact quadratic-matrix form which will be done below in this section. In view of this, it is convenient to rearrange the coefficient matrix of (
15) to the symmetric
form
Here we see a formal similarity between the DS classes described by (
4) and (
15), (
17) (partly because in both cases the number of the equation terms equals the number of equations yielding square DS coefficient matrices). In our analysis we extend this similarity and introduce and describe the equivalence classes using the ’sign’ S-vectors on the set of
coefficient matrices.
Investigation of the DS (
15) may be, among all, the first step towards analysis of more complicated polynomial DSs with ’mixed’ variables as in (
2). Here, the sets of nine real coefficients
in (
15) govern qualitative behaviour of solutions; however, as we show, many important properties are governed by actually three decisive parameters. Namely, there is a finite number of integrable combinations of solutions to (
15) and, remarkably, they all can be fully classified by three parameters, the discriminants of the polynomial entering DSs using the discriminant criterium [
6,
7].
The proposed matrix representation of polynomial DSs is among all definitely a useful tool of saving information about the DS in a compact form. Indeed, as we see from (
5)–(
12) and (
13), many known kinds of DSs can be described using this compact matrix anzats.
A conjecture is that there are deep specific relations between the structure of the coefficient matrix (its rank, symmetry) and qualitative properties of a polynomial DS. In this study we confirm this statement for a specific integrable family of such DSs.
2.2. Discriminant Criterion and Matrix Representation of 3D Polynomial Dynamical Systems
The discriminant criterion employs introduction of the D-vectors which is based on the following general anzats: A DS coefficient matrix can be represented, as well as any
matrix, in the form of a column of raw vectors
Let
R denote a smooth real-valued function of three variables. An f-vector
associated with function
f and matrix (
18) can be defined as a ’3D vector-valued functional’ according to
A concrete form of f is dictated by specific needs of analysis.
Particularly, we define f-vectors of the DS coefficient matrices as the discriminant (D-) column vector; simultaneously we define the (S-) row vector of the discriminant signs associated with the DS coefficient matrix (
17):
S-vectors may be equally represented as sets of the three ordered numbers
, so that, for example,
The quantities
in (
20) specifying the concrete form of
f are the discriminants of the quadratic trinomials
entering the
ith row of system (
42); they are considered each as a real-valued function of three variables
,
, with the range being the set of all real numbers.
Generally an f-vector (
19) and particularly a D-vector (
20) is an aggregate quantity (a ’vector-valued functional’) describing in a compact form certain important properties of a
matrix or particularly the DS coefficient matrix and in this manner the DS itself, including its symmetries, bifurcations and singular points. The corresponding S-vector in its turn is an informative three-symbol description of a (set of) D-vector specifying characteristic classes of these vectors and yelding much less information than the D-vector: the range of D-vectors is the same as that of three-dimensional vectors with real components while the range of S-vectors is the set of three symbols (or three numbers
). S-vectors form a set denoted by S
3 which contains a finite number of elements (this number is determined in the next section).
D-vectors (
20) may be naturally considered as elements of a three-dimensional space R
3 and a subset of D-vectors corresponding to an S-vector in (
20) composed by a particular triple of signs will be a particular set of R
3. Namely: the first, second, etc octants of R
3 correspond to S-vectors
,
, etc; the coordinate planes in R
3 correspond to S-vectors
,
,
; and the coordinate axes in R
3 correspond to S-vectors
,
,
etc.
We can define now the following sets and relations (mappings, denoted by
) that couple these sets:
Application of the discriminant criterion means that, on the first step, we assign to a coefficient matrix (
17) the discriminant D-vector and to the latter the S-vector of the discriminant signs (
20). On the second step, one establishes classes of equivalence (invariance, symmetry) on the sets of the DS coefficient matrices and DS general solutions and the D-vectors in terms, respectively, of the D- or S-vectors (this issue is addressed in the next section). On the third step, analysis is performed of the DS qualitative behavior within a chosen equivalence class including the occurrence and character of bifurcations, as well as specific analysis of the transitions between classes (when one of the discriminants changes the sign).
Exemplify the relations between particular coefficient matrix families and its D- and S-vectors which, as will be shown below, govern qualitative properties of the corresponding DS solutions.
Identity and ’anti-identity’ matrices:
Diagonal and ’anti-diagonal’ matrices:
Upper- (lower-) triangular matrix:
Symmetric matrix:
One may continue this list for other particular matrix families.
We see that for matrices (
23)–(
24), the D- and S-vectors are invariant w.r.t. interchange (permutation) of the first and third raws, creating in this manner a definite symmetry (and the invariance or equivalence classes). This issue is discussed in more detail in the next section.
Next, according to relations (
21) and (22) and between subsets of the space R
3 of D- and S-vectors, the D- and S-vectors may be treated as quantities establishing classes of equivalence (invariance, symmetry) on the sets of (i) the DS coefficient matrices and DS general solutions in terms of the D- or S-vectors (when each D-vector corresponds to a particular subset of the DS coefficient matrices and each S-vector corresponds to a particular subset of D-vectors) and (ii) the D-vectors in terms of the S-vectors using relations (22). There are finitely many equivalence classes specified by condition (ii) and they are described in the next section.
Whether the DS coefficient matrix (
17) belongs to a certain equivalence class determines the presence and nature (type) of singular points and bifurcations of the corresponding polynomial DS (
15). This is a crucial reason to introduce D- and S-vectors and investigate quadratic polynomial DSs in terms of the equivalence classes (symmetry relations) defined using these vector quantities.
2.3. Symmetry Relations on the Sets of Coefficient Matrices and D-Vectors
D-vectors possess definite symmetry relations; namely, representing coefficient matrix (
17) as a triple (raw) of column vectors,
we can write a D-vector with components (
20) as
and deduce that
and the following symmetry relations hold
The same symmetry relations (
33) hold for S-vectors (D- and S-vectors are invariant. w.r.t. the sign of the central column and interchange of the side columns).
We see that for the matrices satisfying (30)–(32), the D- and S-vectors are the same; i.e. they are invariant w.r.t. any interchange (permutation) of the matrix raws creating in this manner definite symmetries (and the invariance or equivalence classes).
It is reasonable to introduce and consider a subset of coefficient matrices (
17) of the form
with the D-vectors
corresponding to DSs (
15) with reduced polynomials having nonzero quadratic terms. Unlike (
17) which is a nine-parameter matrix set, coefficient matrices (
34) constitute a six-parameter subset of
matrices. The following conditions hold that specify the subsets of the equivalence classes of matrices (
34):
A case which may important is the set of degenerate coefficient matrices (
34) having the forms
For these coefficient matrices the conditions (36) -(38) that specify belonging to the equivalence classes governed by the corresponding S-vectors may be greatly simplified; e.g.
Many more symmetry (equivalence, invariance) relations may be discovered and described for the set of D-vectors. Their complete description goes far beyond the scope of the present study and may be a subject of a great number of future works performed by other researchers.