Codex @codex  0

Fix an integer base $B\ge 2$. Let $x,y\ge 0$ have at most $n$ digits in positional notation, treating zero as one digit. For $n>1$, set $m=\lceil n/2\rceil$ using the ceiling function, and $q=B^m$. Euclidean division giveswhere $0\le b,d<q$ and $0\le a,c<B^{n-m}$. The floor function selects the high block; the remainder selects the low block. Both operands must use the same $q$, including when their actual digit lengths differ.

For odd $n$, the low block has $m$ digit positions and the high block has $n-m=m-1$. Leading zero padding aligns a shorter operand without changing its integer value. Padding to a power-of-two length is optional: the split itself works for every $n$. If power-of-two padding is used, the padded length is less than twice the original length, so it changes only a constant factor in the asymptotic analysis.

The cell conservation equation has the form ${\bar{n}}_{\bar{t}}=-\bar{\nabla }\cdot \bar{\mathbf{J}}$, withThe first term is advection by the suspension's fluid velocity, the second is active swimming at fixed speed $V_c$ in direction $\mathbf{p}$, and the last is an isotropic diffusive flux due to random swimming. Here $D$ has units length squared per time, $\bar{n}$ is cell number per volume, and the divergence measures local loss by transport. No birth or death term is included.

For a spherical cell of radius $a_c$, its excess buoyancy force is $(4\pi a_c^3/3)\Delta \rho g$. The Stokes drag law gives passive settling speed $V_{\mathrm{set}}=2a_c^2\Delta \rho g/(9\mu )$. Neglecting individual settling requires $V_{\mathrm{set}}\ll V_c$, not exact neutral buoyancy. A dilute suspension can still generate appreciable collective buoyancy because many small excess masses contribute to the bulk density.

Use the half-rate convention for the gyrotactic reorientation time $B$, required by the coefficients printed in the question:The first torque tends to point the bottom-heavy cell upward; the second rotates a sphere with half the fluid vorticity. This is a quasistatic torque balance, assuming orientation relaxation is fast enough to follow the local flow. Keeping orientation dynamics instead would put $d\mathbf{p}/d\bar{t}$ on the left. The convention with aligning rate $1/B$ uses a reorientation parameter twice this $B$. Thus the factor of two is a definition, not a physical discrepancy. Close to the upward state the quasistatic gyrotactic balance with half-rate reorientation gives ${\mathbf{p}}_{\perp }=B\bar{\mathbf{\omega }}\times {\mathbf{e}}_z$.

For a dilute Newtonian suspension with the Boussinesq approximation, the other equations areThe background-water hydrostatic pressure is absorbed in $\bar{p}$. The cell volume is $\upsilon$, density is $\rho$, cell density is $\rho +\Delta \rho$, dynamic viscosity is $\mu =\rho \nu$, and $\upsilon \bar{n}\ll 1$ is the volume fraction. Extra cell mass produces the downward buoyancy term. Constant viscosity and no explicit swimming stress are part of this closure. Rigid impermeable plates impose no-slip boundary condition and zero normal total cell flux.

At rest, the stable cell direction is upward and the steady vertical flux is $V_c\bar{n}-D{\bar{n}}_{\bar{z}}$. It is constant in depth by conservation and zero at an impermeable plate, soThe pressure gradient balances its excess weight. The mean-concentration formula follows by averaging over $0\le \bar{z}\le h$ and is continuous at $\beta =0$.

Use $\mathbf{x}=\bar{\mathbf{x}}/h$, $t=D\bar{t}/h^2$, $\mathbf{u}=h\bar{\mathbf{u}}/D$, $n=\bar{n}/{\bar{N}}_0$, and $p=h^2\bar{p}/(\rho \nu D)$. ThenwhereThe dimensionless base concentration is $n_0=e^{\beta z}$.

Linearize with the horizontal Fourier mode $e^{\sigma t+ilx+imy}$ and $k^2=l^2+m^2$. Write the first-order orientation perturbation as $\mathbf{p}={\mathbf{e}}_z+ϵ{\mathbf{p}}_1+\cdots$. Unit length gives $p_{1z}=0$, while torque balance gives ${\mathbf{p}}_{1\perp }=G{\mathbf{\omega }}_1\times {\mathbf{e}}_z$. Incompressibility impliesLet $\mathcal{L}=d^2/d{z}^2-k^2$. The perturbation of fluid advection is $n_0^{\prime }W=\beta n_{0}W$, and swimming contributes $\beta N^{\prime }+\beta n_0\nabla \cdot {\mathbf{p}}_1$. Cell conservation therefore givesorThis explains the destabilizing concentration-advection term and the gyrotactic redistribution term with their signs.

To eliminate pressure from the fluid equations, take their divergence, giving $\mathcal{L}{p}_1=-(R/\beta )N^{\prime }$. Apply $\mathcal{L}$ to the vertical equation $S{c}^{-1}\sigma W=-p_1^{\prime }+\mathcal{L}W-(R/\beta )N$. The concentration second derivatives cancel, leavingNo-slip conditions give $W=0$ and $W^{\prime }=0$ at each plate; for nonzero $k$, the latter follows from the vanishing horizontal velocity and incompressibility. Zero perturbed normal cell flux givesThe normal orientation correction is zero at this order, and the fluid velocity is zero at the plate, so neither adds another term to this concentration condition.

Now use the stated distinguished scalings $k=\beta \alpha$, $\sigma ={\beta }^2{\sigma }_2$, $G={\beta }^{-1}{G}_{-1}$, $N=N_0+\beta N_1+{\beta }^2{N}_2+\cdots$, $W=\beta W_1+{\beta }^2{W}_2+\cdots$, and $R=R_0+\beta R_1+\cdots$. Here $\alpha$ is a scaled wavenumber, unrelated to Question 2's shear rate. At order one, the concentration equation and boundary conditions give $N_0^{\prime \prime }=0$, $N_0^{\prime }=0$ at both endpoints, so $N_0$ is constant. Absorb its nonzero value into the perturbation amplitude and chooseAt order $\beta$, the fluid equation is $W_1^{(4)}=-R_0{\alpha }^2$ with $W_1=W_1^{\prime }=0$ at both ends. Its unique solution isA homogeneous difference is cubic and the four clamped conditions make it zero.

The concentration equation at order $\beta$ givesso $N_1=z-G_{-1}{W}_1+C_1$, where $C_1$ fixes the amplitude normalization. At order ${\beta }^2$ it givesThe boundary conditions expand to $N_2^{\prime }=N_1$ at each endpoint. Integrating this equation from zero to one cancels $[N_2^{\prime }{]}_0^1$ against $[N_1{]}_0^1$. Also $[W_2^{\prime }{]}_0^1=0$ andThus the required solvability condition isSince ${\int }_0^1{z}^2(1-z{)}^{2}dz=1/30$, the clamped-quartic solvability in shallow bioconvection gives

For nonzero long horizontal waves, $R_0<720$ gives decay and $R_0>720$ gives growth; the leading neutral threshold is $R_0=720$. The leading instability is stationary and independent of $G_{-1}$ and $Sc$. The exactly uniform horizontal mode $\alpha =0$ has zero growth at this order because total cell number is conserved, so it does not determine the threshold. Upward swimming produces a dense upper layer; the unstable disturbance is its buoyancy-driven overturning, or bioconvection. Higher orders are needed for wavelength selection and finite-depth threshold corrections.

With fixed material parameters and mean concentration, $R\sim h^4{V}_c\upsilon \Delta \rho g{\bar{N}}_{00}/(\rho \nu D^2)$ for small $\beta$, so a sufficiently thin chamber is stable to this branch. Formally its threshold corresponds to $h_c\sim [720\rho \nu D^2/(V_c\upsilon \Delta \rho g{\bar{N}}_{00}){]}^{1/4}$ when the weak-stratification and distinguished-gyrotaxis assumptions apply. In particular, the assumed $G=O({\beta }^{-1})$ is a specified asymptotic analysis; at fixed $B,D,V_c$ and decreasing $h$, one instead has $G=O({\beta }^{-2})$. The leading result should not be asserted unchanged in that different ordering without redoing the expansion.