Hopf bifurcation

In the mathematical theory of bifurcations, a Hopf bifurcation is a critical point where, as a parameter changes, a system's stability switches and a periodic solution arises. More accurately, it is a local bifurcation in which a fixed point of a dynamical system loses stability, as a pair of complex conjugate eigenvalues—of the linearization around the fixed point—crosses the complex plane imaginary axis as a parameter crosses a threshold value. Under reasonably generic assumptions about the dynamical system, the fixed point becomes a small-amplitude limit cycle as the parameter changes.

A Hopf bifurcation is also known as a Poincaré–Andronov–Hopf bifurcation, named after Henri Poincaré, Aleksandr Andronov and Eberhard Hopf.