Number of Equilibrium Points in a system

Suppose we know that the number of asymptotically stable equilibrium points is two for the system \begin{equation} \dot{x} = f(x) \end{equation} where $x \in R^1$ and $f$ is continuous. Is the statement "the number of all equilibria must be at least three" true? If yes, why?


This is true for scalar systems because if $x_e$ is asymptotically stable equilibrium point then around $x_e$ the system $\dot{x} = f(x)$ behaves like $\dot{x} = a x$ where $a = \frac{d}{dx}f(x)|_{x=x_e} < 0$. Therefore $f(x) > 0$ when "close to $x_e$ from the left" and $f(x) < 0$ when "close to $x_e$ from the right". So if you have two asymptically stable equilibrium points in a scalar system it means that $f(x)$ has to cross the x-axis "from positive to negative direction" twice. Because $f$ is continuous this is only possible if there is at least one more equilibrium.

If $f$ is not continuous, this is not true anymore. For example:

$$ \dot{x}=f(x)=\begin{cases} -x-1 & x\leq 0\\ -x+1 & x > 0 \end{cases} $$

Of course the system has only two equilibrium points at $x=-1$ and $x=1$ as you can see in the plot. Both are locally asymptotically stable because locally they are governed by linear stable dynamics. But this is only possible because $f$ has a discontinuity. When $f$ is continuous it has to "properly" cross the x-axis at some point.

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