On competitive discrete systems in the plane. I. Invariant Manifolds

TL;DR

This paper establishes conditions for the existence of invariant curves in competitive planar systems, analyzes their basins of attraction, and applies these results to understand the qualitative dynamics of specific rational difference equations.

Contribution

It introduces new criteria for invariant manifolds in competitive maps and applies them to characterize the global behavior of certain rational systems in the plane.

Findings

Existence of invariant curves for competitive maps under specific conditions

Invariant curves lie within the basin of attraction of fixed points

Complete qualitative analysis of two classes of rational planar systems

Abstract

Let $T$ be a $C^{1}$ competitive map on a rectangular region $R\subset \mathbb{R}^{2}$. The main results of this paper give conditions which guarantee the existence of an invariant curve $C$, which is the graph of a continuous increasing function, emanating from a fixed point $\bar{z}$. We show that $C$ is a subset of the basin of attraction of $\bar{z}$ and that the set consisting of the endpoints of the curve $C$ in the interior of $R$ is forward invariant. The main results can be used to give an accurate picture of the basins of attraction for many competitive maps. We then apply the main results of this paper along with other techniques to determine a near complete picture of the qualitative behavior for the following two rational systems in the plane. $$x_{n+1}=\frac{\alpha_{1}}{A_{1}+y_{n}},\quad y_{n+1}=\frac{\gamma_{2}y_{n}}{x_{n}},\quad n=0,1,...,$$ with $\alpha_1,A_{1},\gamma_{2}>0$ and arbitrary nonnegative initial conditions so that the denominator is never zero. $$x_{n+1}=\frac{\alpha_{1}}{A_{1}+y_{n}},\quad y_{n+1}=\frac{y_{n}}{A_{2}+x_{n}},\quad n=0,1,...,$$ with $\alpha_1,A_{1},A_{2}>0$ and arbitrary nonnegative initial conditions.