Phase portrait of a $3\times 3$ matrix

108 Views Asked by At

Seeing other years' exams, I found an exercise that we never did before (yes, in an exam, the perfect moment to test our creativity).

It's the following:

Consider the linear system $$x'=\begin{bmatrix} -2&1&3 \\ -1&-2&1 \\ 0&0&1 \end{bmatrix}x$$

Give a fundamental matrix to this system, and explain the phase portrait.

I know how to find the fundamental matrix with the exponential matrix or with the eigenvalues and eigenvectors directly, but I don't know how to do the phase portrait of a $3\times 3$ system. We've never did that before.

I'd appreciate any help.