Stability of stationary solutions of a semilinear parabolic partial differential equation

We consider a parabolic partial differential equation u_t = u_xx + f(u) on a compact interval of spatial variable x with Dirichlet boundary conditions. The stability of stationary solutions of this system is studied by the use of Liapunov's second method. We obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for the stability, asymptotic stability, neutral stability, instability, and conditional stability. These conditions are closely connected with the conditions for the existence of the stationary solutions.