- CONSTRUCTING THE BRYANT STEADY SOLITON 21
the differential equation for y in (1.48) shows that there exists to such that
y :::; 0 for t 2:: to. Therefore,
dx 2
->x dt - +n-l
and limt/T x = +oo for some finite T >to.
PROPOSITION 1.32. The metric associated to this trajectory is incom-
plete.
PROOF. We will show that there exists a constant a E (0, 1) such that
(1.51)
a
x<--- T-t
for t sufficiently close to T. From this inequality, it follows· by integration
that w :::; C.(T-t)-a for some constant C and hence that r = J w dt is finite
as t /' T.
To establish the upper bound on x, suppose we knew that there is a
positive constant 5 and a t 1 E ( t, T) such that
(1.52) y + 5x:::; 0 for all t 2:: ti.
Then dx/dt 2:: (1+5)x^2 + n - 1, and this implies that
-arctan d ( x ) > f{!--1 --
dt .J a ( n - 1) - a '
a~ 1/(1+5).
Integrating from t to T on both sides and solving for x give the inequality
(1.51).
To establish (1.52), note that
d
dt (y + 5x) = x(y - nx) + 5(x^2 - xy + n -1).
When y + 5x = 0, the right-hand side equals (5^2 - n)x^2 + (n - 1)5. Let x 0
be the x-intercept of the trajectory, and let 5o > 0 be small enough so that
(1.53) (55 - n)x^2 + (n - 1)5o < 0 for all x > xo.
Let (x1, Y1) be any point on the trajectory such that x1 > xo and Yl < 0,
and choose 5 :::; 5o sufficiently small so that Y1+5x1 :::; 0. Then (1.53) shows
that this inequality persists for all later values oft. D
4.3. Phase plane analysis of the left-hand trajectory. We now
turn to the analysis of the other trajectory emerging from saddle point (1, n).
By the same reasoning as before, we see that x is decreasing, y is increasing,
and y - nx is positive along this trajectory. Moreover,
x -+ O+ and y -+ +oo
as t increases. In order to prove that the corresponding metric is complete,
we need to know the limiting behavior of wand r. To do this, we introduce