Linear elliptic equations in composite media with anisotropic fibres are concerned. The media consist of a periodic set of anisotropic fibres with low conductivity, included in a connected matrix with high conductivity. Inside the anisotropic fibres, the conductivity in the longitudinal direction is relatively high compared with that in the transverse directions. The coefficients of the elliptic equations depend on the conductivity. This work is to derive the H\"older and the gradient $L^p$ estimates (uniformly in the period size of the set of anisotropic fibres as well as in the conductivity ratio of the fibres in the transverse directions to the connected matrix) for the solutions of the elliptic equations. Furthermore, it is shown that, inside the fibres, the solutions have higher regularity along the fibres than in the transverse directions.

Recent work explores the candidate phases of the 4d adjoint quantum chromodynamics (QCD$_4$) with an SU(2) gauge group and two massless adjoint Weyl fermions. Both Cordova-Dumitrescu and Bi-Senthil propose possible low energy 4d topological quantum field theories (TQFTs) to saturate the higher 't Hooft anomalies of adjoint QCD$_4$ under a renormalization-group (RG) flow from high energy. In this work, we generalize the symmetry-extension method [arXiv:1705.06728] to higher symmetries, and formulate higher group cohomology and cobordism theory approach to construct higher-symmetric TQFTs. We prove that the symmetry-extension method saturates certain anomalies, but also prove that neither $A \mathcal{P}_2(B_2)$ nor $\mathcal{P}_2(B_2)$ can be fully trivialized, with the background 1-form field $A$, Pontryagin square $\mathcal{P}_2$ and 2-form field $B_2$. Surprisingly, this indicates an obstruction to constructing a fully 1-form center and 0-form chiral symmetry (full discrete axial symmetry) preserving 4d TQFT with confinement, a no-go scenario via symmetry-extension for specific higher anomalies. We comment on the implications and constraints on deconfined quantum critical points (dQCP), quantum spin liquids (QSL) or quantum fermionic liquids in condensed matter, and ultraviolet-infrared (UV-IR) duality in 3+1 spacetime dimensions.

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