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Wednesday 23 September

Information Theory

Finite-Sample Binary Hypothesis Testing via Rényi Divergences: Strong Converse and Local Privacy

We study asymmetric simple binary hypothesis testing between $H_0:P_0^{n}$ and $H_1:P_1^{n}$, based on $n$ independent and identically distributed observations. Leveraging a variational representation of Rényi divergence of order $\alpha$, we derive our main result: a finite-sample converse with $\alpha>1$. The bound uses both directions of the divergence $D_\alpha(P_1\|P_0)$ and $D_\alpha(P_0\|P_1)$, tensorises under product measures, and contains familiar data-processing converses as boundary cases. For comparison, we apply the same variational approach to general $f$-divergences and specialise it to total variation, $E_\gamma$, Hellinger, and Kullback Leibler divergences, thereby recovering familiar converses within a unified framework. Together with an achievability bound involving Rényi divergence with $\alpha\in (0,1)$, the main converse recovers the phase transition of the optimal Type II error under the exponentially decaying Type I error constraint $\varepsilon_n=e^{-nr}$. Under regularity conditions, the optimal Type II error vanishes exponentially when $r<D(P_1\|P_0)$ and converges exponentially fast to one when $r>D(P_1\|P_0)$. We also derive sample-complexity bounds and extend both the converse and achievability analyses to locally differentially private observations, quantifying the cost of privacy and recovering the non-private achievability bound as the privacy constraint vanishes.
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Information Theory · Cross-listed from eess.SY

Action-Directed Information for Distributed Control and Agentic Interaction

Distributed intelligence concerns systems in which semi-autonomous components with local dynamics and partial observations coordinate through information exchange to maintain a shared function. This paper proposes an operational way to study such systems: measure information at the interface where a message changes a receiving action, then connect that measure to function by intervention and disturbance evaluation. We instantiate this proposal in DI-Walker, a two-dimensional four-limb embodied plant controlled by frozen Cross-Entropy-Method policies. We compare a controller using each limb's own realized-force sensor with one using the realized-force sensors of peer limbs. Under limb loss, limb slip, and weak central-control dropout, Peer-Sensor has lower late tracking error in several conditions. A corrected finite-history action-predictive estimator shows a substantially larger peer-message gain under compound failure. A future scalar functional-prediction estimator does not show the same stable advantage. We interpret this discrepancy as a methodological result: information useful for an intermediate control action can be hidden by later plant dynamics, redundancy, and context. The paper relates this result to Predictive Information, Transfer Entropy, Directed Information, information-to-go/IT-PAC ideas, empowerment, and the robust control data-rate perspective, while explicitly distinguishing operational predictive gains from exact Directed Information, channel capacity, and a formal data-rate theorem.
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Information Theory

Block Erasure Channel and Block z-Channel with Bounded Decoders and Finite Blocklength

Block error rate is a standard metric in finite blocklength (FBL) communication, yet it conflates two qualitatively different failure modes: block confusions, where the decoder selects a wrong codeword, and block erasures, where it declares a loss. Higher-layer protocols treat physical-layer failures as erasures, but this cross-layer assumption lacks FBL justification. We derive a rigorous upper bound and a companion lower-side estimate on the block confusion probability (BLCP) and block erasure probability (BLEP) for bounded-distance decoders over additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels at finite blocklength, recasting the coding problem as a geometric sphere packing one. We analyze the sensitivity of these bounds to blocklength and signalto-noise ratio, characterize the envelope of the upper bound, and derive closed-form Chernoff approximations. Extending the model to idle transmission blocks, we bound the false alarm probability (FAP) and show that a block z-channel abstraction emerges from the bounded-decoding geometry. Numerical results confirm that confusion and false alarm probabilities lie far below the error rate constraint, providing quantitative physicallayer support for the block erasure channel and block z-channel abstractions assumed in protocol design.
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All authors Bin Han, Yao Zhu, Rafael F. Schaefer, Wenwen Chen, Giuseppe Caire, Anke Schmeink, H. Vincent Poor, Hans D. Schotten

Information Theory

The Sharp Rényi and Tsallis Threshold in the Shepp–Olkin Concavity Problem

Let $B_1,\ldots,B_n$ be independent Bernoulli random variables with parameters $p_1,\ldots,p_n$, and let $S=\sum_i B_i$. Hillion and Johnson proved that the Shannon entropy of $S$ is jointly concave in the parameter vector and proposed corresponding critical-order conjectures for R'enyi and Tsallis entropies, with predicted thresholds $2$ and approximately $3.65986$, respectively. We determine both thresholds exactly. For every $0<q<1$, the power sum $\sum_k \mathbb P(S=k)^q$ is jointly concave in $(p_1,\ldots,p_n)$, and strictly concave on the open parameter cube. Consequently, the R'enyi and Tsallis entropies of order $q$ are jointly concave. At $q=1$ this agrees with the Shannon theorem. For every $q>1$, joint concavity fails already for the sum of two Bernoulli variables: a transverse interpolation in which the two parameters move in opposite directions gives strict local convexity for both entropies. Hence the universal joint-concavity range for both families is exactly $0<q\leq 1$. Below order one, the proof combines the Hillion–Johnson transport inequality with an explicit nonlinear telescoping correction. The corrected local curvature reduces to a two-dimensional quadratic form. An exact Riccati identity, together with a one-sided zero-crossing argument, proves positivity of its determinant throughout the full range $0<q<1$.
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Information Theory

Spectral-NFP: Certified Low-Rank Curvature Majorization for Accelerating WMMSE

Weighted sum-rate maximization in multicell multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) networks is commonly addressed by the weighted minimum mean-square error (WMMSE) algorithm or fractional programming (FP), both of which, after fixing their auxiliary variables, solve a power-constrained quadratic transmit problem that requires costly dense operations for large arrays. Replacing the underlying curvature matrix with a scaled identity can avoid the matrix inverse operation and thereby reduce complexity, but it discards the curvature eigenvalue structure and yields a loose lower bound. We propose Spectral-NFP, which retains selected dominant curvature eigenpairs and uses a scaled identity matrix to bound the curvature on the remaining subspace from above. The retained rank thus traces a continuous path from NFP to the exact WMMSE transmit update. With the surrogate curvature fixed, Spectral-NFP can be interpreted as Euclidean projected-gradient ascent after a linear coordinate transformation, admitting Nesterov-type acceleration. We derive a lower bound on the one-step transmit-objective gain of Spectral-NFP relative to WMMSE, expressed in terms of the curvature eigenvalues. Under an idealized Wishart model, we analyze this bound in both finite dimensions and the large-system limit, obtaining an asymptotic rank-selection rule. Experimental results show that retaining at most 20% of the transmit dimension, and often less than 10%, achieves more than 99% of the WMMSE WSR. In large-array settings, the measured update time is below 20% of that required by WMMSE.
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Information Theory · Cross-listed from cs.RO

A Sample-Based Approach for Hierarchical Information-Theoretic Compression of Probabilistic Occupancy Grids

We develop a sample-based framework for constructing information-driven hierarchical multi-resolution representations of probabilistic occupancy grids. Recent methods compute information-optimal abstractions via dynamic-programming-based exhaustive recursions, which become computationally prohibitive for large-scale grids and are ill-suited to robotics applications. To address this limitation, we introduce a sample-based strategy inspired by Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) that incrementally constructs hierarchical abstractions through statistical estimation rather than exhaustive enumeration. The proposed method is anytime in nature, allowing computation to be terminated at any stage to produce a valid compressed representation. We compare our approach with the information-optimal Q-tree search algorithm and demonstrate its effectiveness in rapidly generating abstractions of large real-world probabilistic occupancy grids.
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Information Theory

The Risk-Sensitive Schrödinger Bridge: Is Not a KL Projection

The Schrödinger bridge owes its computational power to a single structural fact: by Girsanov's theorem the controlled problem is a Kullback–Leibler (KL) projection onto a fixed reference measure, solvable by alternating projections. This letter shows that the fact does not survive risk sensitivity. When the expected path cost is replaced by the entropic risk measure and both endpoint marginals are kept as hard constraints, the resulting fixed-point bridge value $J_\theta$ (the soft-problem value at the multiplier that enforces the terminal constraint) admits no representation as a constrained KL minimum against any fixed path-space reference with a regular endpoint law (a class strictly larger than the uniformly elliptic diffusion references: no Markov property is required), even allowing an additive normalisation depending on the initial marginal. Moreover, no single reference generates the one-parameter family in the risk parameter. The obstruction is computed in closed form: the Gaussian bridge value violates, by exactly $\theta/2$, a heat equation that any Gaussian smoothing of a fixed endpoint density must obey. In place of the projection, the theory rests on a terminal-multiplier fixed point and an asymmetric factorisation penalising the score energy of the backward factor.
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Tuesday 22 September

Information Theory

Logit-Aware MIMO AirComp for Distributed Mixture-of-Experts LLM Inference over Wireless Edge Networks

Distributed mixture-of-experts (MoE) inference is a promising architecture for deploying large language models (LLMs) at wireless edge networks because sparse experts can be placed across coordinated base stations (BSs), while the anchor node and user equipment (UE) can offload LLM inference tasks to BSs. The communication bottleneck is the MoE aggregation, where the anchor BS must recover a weighted sum of selected expert outputs before each decoding step. Over-the-air computation (AirComp) is well matched to this operation because the wireless multiple-access channel naturally superposes simultaneous transmissions. However, conventional AirComp minimizes communication distortion, whereas MoE aggregation errors have unequal impact on LLM outputs. We propose a logit-aware MIMO AirComp framework that estimates local logit sensitivity as block-level weights and jointly optimizes receive combiners and BS precoders under per-BS power constraints. We also develop an alternating algorithm that protects decoding decisions from aggregation perturbations. Using OpenCompass, we evaluate Qwen3-30B-A3B-Instruct-2507-FP8 on GSM8K and ARC-Challenge. At 30 dB aggregation SNR, perturbed Qwen3 retains 99.3% of clean GSM8K accuracy and 94.8% of clean ARC-Challenge accuracy. In a direct ARC-Challenge closed-loop audit over 295 examples, SW-AirComp achieves 43.73% accuracy at 30 dB and 26.78% at 20 dB, outperforming unweighted, matched-filter, and zero-forcing AirComp. In the wireless simulator, SW-AirComp reduces decision-relevant aggregation distortion; at 20 dB, its final weighted-sum mean-squared error is 53.5% lower than unweighted AirComp under the same channels, samples, and sensitivity weights. Logit-RMSE and logit-gap diagnostics further show that the gain comes from reducing output-logit perturbation and lowering the risk of top-token changes.
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All authors Lyutianyang Zhang, Yunjian Jia, Liu Cao, Dengke Wang, Jinke Ren, Shuguang Cui

Information Theory

A linear-in-$q$ range of dimensions for the MDS conjecture over $\mathbb F_q$ in odd characteristic

Let $q$ be a power of an odd prime $p$. We prove the MDS conjecture over $\mathbb F_q$ in every dimension $k$ satisfying \[ 2\leqslant k\leqslant B(p,q) \quad\text{or}\quad q+2-B(p,q)\leqslant k\leqslant q, \qquad B(p,q)=\left\lfloor\frac{(p-2)q+6p-10}{2p-3}\right\rfloor. \] For fixed $p$, the first interval is linear in $q$; together with duality, the theorem covers an asymptotic proportion $1-1/(2p-3)$ of all dimensions. The proof rests on a vanishing theorem for determinant relations over an arbitrary field of characteristic $p>0$. It yields full row rank for Chowdhury's matrices over a larger range of arc sizes. In particular, at $|G|=2k-3+n$ it proves Chowdhury's full-row-rank conjecture without the $q$-dependent restriction. Specialization to $\mathbb F_q$, together with the Ball–Lavrauw construction, gives the stated MDS range. We also prove that, for every odd prime power $q$, every normal rational curve in $\mathrm{PG}(N,q)$ is complete for $2\leqslant N\leqslant q-2$, and every projective Reed–Solomon code of length $q+1$ and dimension $2\leqslant k\leqslant q-2$ has covering radius $q-k$.
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Information Theory

Spatially Coupled MacKay-Neal Codes on Symmetric Markov Noise: A Reduction to BMS Channels

We prove a capacity criterion for fixed-degree spatially coupled MacKay–Neal codes on additive symmetric Markov noise. The noise bit flips with probability $p$, so the channel has one parameter and capacity $1-h_2(p)$. For every integer $\ell\geq4$ with $3/\ell<1-h_2(p)$, matched finite-window BCJR and sum-product decoding admit code sequences, possibly depending on $p$, with actual rate tending to $3/\ell$ and vanishing average information-bit error. The proof parallels the GEC-to-BEC argument: a conditional-entropy correction transfers BMS fixed-point positivity to the channel with memory. The correction also covers a capacity deficit of the effective BMS channel. A two-state posterior contraction supplies the additional derivative bound needed for threshold saturation. The result uses the cited BMS positivity theorem, with an analytic proof for $\ell\geq33$ and exact interval certificates for $4\leq\ell\leq32$.
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Information Theory

A weak Hellinger inequality for noisy Boolean channels

A weak form of the Hellinger conjecture of Anantharam, Bogdanov, Chakrabarti, Jayram, and Nair for the binary symmetric channel is proved: dictator functions maximize Hellinger $\Phi$-entropy among all Boolean functions of the input and all one-bit statistics of the output of a noisy channel. The technical heart of the matter is an explicit inequality in three real parameters, which is proved using explicit polynomial approximations and computer-assisted positivity checks. The results are also formally verified in Lean 4.
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Information Theory · Cross-listed from math.PR

Geometric mean quantization via adaptive approximation

Let $\nu$ be a compactly supported Borel probability measure on $\mathbb R^{d}$ with $\nu(B(x,r))\leq Cr^{a}$ for some $a>0$. Refine a dyadic cube exactly when its mass is at least $t$, and let $\mathcal{L}_{\nu}(t)$ be the mean depth at which this refinement stops. We show that the lower and upper geometric-mean quantization dimensions of $\nu$ are the lower and upper limits of $\log(1/t)/\mathcal{L}_{\nu}(t)$. The dimension exists precisely when $(q-1)\sum_{Q}\nu(Q)^{q}$, summed over all dyadic cubes, converges as $q\downarrow1$, and it is then determined by this limit. The mass-threshold formula yields harmonic integral bounds in terms of the local dimensions and encloses entropy and quantization dimensions in a common spectral interval. Convergence in law of the local information rates is equivalent to convergence of the rescaled spectra in a window of width $1/k$ around $q=1$; the two dimensions are then the arithmetic and the harmonic mean of the limit law, and we quantify their difference by sharp bounds and variance identities. Without any convergence assumption, vanishing threshold variance still forces equality of the corresponding lower and upper dimensions. Bernoulli mixtures realise every local-dimension law with compact support in $(0,1]$, and a regime-switching example separates convergence in law from almost-everywhere convergence.
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Information Theory · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Quantum Broadcast Channels with Mutually Confidential Messages

We study the transmission of two independent confidential classical messages over a quantum broadcast channel, one for each receiver. Each message must remain secret from the other receiver, including when that receiver knows its own message. For classical inputs and quantum outputs, we establish the classical Marton-type inner bound under average reliability and conditional strong secrecy. The encoder selects pairs of codewords from independently generated codebooks using normalized likelihood weights. We prove reliability through a change-of-distribution argument. Our main technical result is a bipartite classical-quantum resolvability theorem that accounts for the dependence created by pair selection and establishes secrecy for the same encoder. We also obtain a multi-letter capacity characterization and extend it to arbitrary quantum inputs under secrecy against the other receiver, together with the Stinespring environment. We recover confidential capacity regions for deterministic classical and degraded classical-quantum channels, with an explicit evaluation for the classical Blackwell channel. For coherent isometric extensions of injective deterministic classical broadcast channels, we show that the confidential classical capacity region equals that of the corresponding classical channel. We then compare confidential classical communication with quantum transmission. For the coherent isometric extension of the Blackwell channel, we determine the unassisted quantum-capacity region and show that some achievable confidential classical rate pairs lie outside it. The Platypus channel provides another example of this separation.
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All authors Paula Belzig, Sukanya Ghosal, Farzin Salek, Graeme Smith

Information Theory · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Explicit channels with unbounded gains in classical communication using entangled inputs

A seminal result of Hastings showed that entangled inputs can increase the rate of classical communication through independent uses of a quantum channel. While Hastings' result proved the existence of this phenomenon, it has remained a major open problem to find an explicit channel with this property. In this work, we resolve this question by constructing an explicit family of finite-dimensional quantum channels for which entangling inputs between pairs of channel uses yields an unbounded separation from the achievable communication rate using unentangled inputs. We describe a circuit implementation of our channel that uses only deterministic qudit Clifford unitaries and a single binary measurement with classical feedforward. The key ingredient is a careful design of the measurement and feedforward process that yields the required one-copy and two-copy output entropy bounds from moment estimates alone, without requiring strong convergence of the underlying unitary family.
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Information Theory · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Good Quantum Locally Testable Codes from Product Expansion

We construct quantum locally testable codes (LTCs) with constant rate, distance, soundness and locality under a variant of a product expansion conjecture of Bafna and Vyas about Reed-Solomon codes. In particular, we use the high-dimensional expansion framework of Dinur, Lin and Vidick for constructing quantum LTCs, instantiated with the non-Abelian cubical complexes of Rungtanapirom, Stix and Vdovina. Our code is obtained by equipping the complex with carefully chosen Reed-Solomon local codes whose symmetries are compatible with those of the complex.
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Information Theory · Cross-listed from quant-ph

When are bosonic Gaussian states classical to learn?

A fundamental question in physics is: When does classical behavior emerge from quantum systems? Bosonic Gaussian states provide a natural setting to explore this quantum-classical boundary, as they capture both the classical field behavior and the intrinsic quantum nature of light. Here, we address this problem from a learning-theoretic perspective by asking: When are bosonic Gaussian states classical to learn? That is, under what conditions (if any) can an n-mode bosonic Gaussian state be learned with as few samples, and with operations as simple, as are needed to learn a classical 2n-variate Gaussian distribution? We establish a smooth crossover in learnability governed by the state's thermal fluctuations: - Cold Gaussian states are non-classical to learn: When the covariance matrix satisfies $\Sigma\le(\frac12+O(\frac1n))I$, i.e. close to the vacuum covariance, tomography under single-copy (i.e., non-entangled) measurements fundamentally requires $\Omega(n^3)$ copies, strictly exceeding the sample complexity $\Theta(n^2)$ of learning classical Gaussian distributions. We show that this hardness persists even when few-copy entangled measurements are allowed. - Warm Gaussian states are classical to learn: When thermal fluctuations exceed the vacuum noise, parameterized by $\Sigma\ge(\frac12+\nu)I$ for any parameter $\nu>0$, we prove that single-copy tomography requires $N=\Theta\left(n^2\min(n,1+\nu^{-1})\right)$ copies. This bound is tight and is achieved by simple, non-adaptive, unentangled heterodyne measurements. Crucially, for $\nu=\Omega(1)$, the sample complexity drops to $\Theta(n^2)$, matching the classical case. Our results tightly characterize a quantum-to-classical crossover in the learnability of bosonic Gaussian states, reveal a novel connection between fundamental physics and statistical learning theory, and have implications for real-world sensing experiments.
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All authors Senrui Chen, Antonio Anna Mele, Francesco Anna Mele, John Preskill

Information Theory · Cross-listed from quant-ph

Parallelizable and addressable transversal non-Clifford gates on good quantum LDPC codes

We achieve linearly many parallelizable and addressable transversal logical multi-controlled-Z gates with asymptotically optimal parameters simultaneously on good quantum low-density parity check codes and quantum locally testable codes, by applying the gate framework of [arXiv:2604.01874] to good qLTC constructions. To establish the nontriviality of the logical operation, we express the cup product pairing as a coefficient in a product of Moore determinants and prove that this coefficient is nonzero. Moreover, we use the symmetries of the covering spaces to construct large spaces of cocycles. By multiplying the initial cocycles by suitable elements of these spaces, we obtain linearly many independent pairings, each selected by a corresponding cycle constructed using Poincaré duality. This yields linearly many parallelizable and addressable multi-controlled-Z gates and enables asymptotically constant-overhead magic state distillation with good qLDPC codes.
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All authors Yiming Li, Zimu Li, Zhengyi Han, Zi-Wen Liu

Information Theory

Lower Bounds for all List-Decodable Deletion Codes

A length-$n$ binary $k$-deletion code is a set of binary strings such that if we delete any $k$ bits of a string, leaving a length-$(n-k)$ binary string, we can uniquely recover the codeword. In this paper, we consider $t$-list decodable deletion codes, where after $k$ bits of a codeword are deleted, we can identify a list of size at most $t$ such that the original codeword lies in the list. We prove a lower bound of $\Omega_k(2^n t\log^{1/t}n/n^{k+k/t})$ on the optimal size of a $t$-list decodable $k$-deletion code, giving a $\sqrt{\log n}$ improvement over the previously best known bounds for $2$-list decodable $2$-deletion codes [GH21] and providing the first nontrivial lower bound when $t>2$ or $k>2$. Our bound holds for all $t\leq n^k$, showing that $t=\Omega(\log n)-$list decodable deletion codes have optimal size $\Theta_k(2^n t/n^k)$, asymptotically matching the known upper bound. We also prove upper bounds on the number of common subsequences and common supersequences of a given length for any two binary strings.
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Information Theory

Annihilator and twisted Euclidean duality for quasi-polycyclic codes

Let $f\in\mathbb F_q[x]$ be a monic polynomial of degree $m$ with $f(0)\ne 0$, and let $\mathcal R=\mathbb F_q[x]/\langle f\rangle$. Under coefficient expansion, a quasi-polycyclic (QP) code of index $n$ corresponds to an $\mathcal R$-submodule of $\mathcal R^n$. In this paper, we study QP codes with respect to the annihilator duality. We show that this form is non-degenerate and that the annihilator dual of a QP code is again a QP code. We also give an equivalent description of the dual in terms of the $\mathcal R$-valued dot product, which leads to self-orthogonality criteria. We determine the Gram matrix of the annihilator form and obtain an explicit formula for its determinant. In coefficient coordinates, this shows that the annihilator dual can be viewed as a twisted Euclidean dual. Using this description, we characterize when a coordinatewise $\mathbb F_q$-linear map converts annihilator duality into ordinary Euclidean duality. For squarefree $f$, we show that annihilator duality decomposes into ordinary Euclidean duality on the components arising from the Chinese Remainder Theorem. This gives simple criteria for self-orthogonal, self-dual, dual-containing, and complementary-dual QP codes. We show how the annihilator dual interacts with the Hamming weight enumerator and compute the MacWilliams transform associated with that duality. Finally, we apply these results to Calderbank–Shor–Steane and Steane-enlarged quantum-code constructions over $\mathcal R$ and, when a suitable duality-preserving coordinate map exists, over $\mathbb F_q$. This gives binary and ternary stabilizer codes with minimum-distance lower bounds matching the best known bounds, most of which arise from rings $\mathcal R$ that are not fields.
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Information Theory · Cross-listed from eess.SP

Unlocking Cross-Scenario Physical Layer Security: A Mixture-of-Experts Framework with Generative Diffusion Models

The future 6G networks are expected to incorporate a proliferation of wireless services in diverse environments, which presents a significant challenge for information security. Conventionally optimization always requires recalculation and learning strategy often suffers poor generalization, which are thus incapable for the security provisioning with wide scenario coverage. In this paper, we propose an adaptive and robust learning framework that leverages a mixture-of-experts (MoE) architecture to achieve cross-scenario physical layer security guarantee. Specifically, we first select a few representative scenarios and establish the scenario-specific generative diffusion model (GDM)-based experts for secure transmission beamforming with artificial noise. The diffusion nature of experts learns the overall probability distribution of security strategy solution landscape and the Transformer-based denoising process enhances the ability to generalize across varying network configurations. Then, a lightweight gating network is constructed to identify the scenarios by engineering the channel features and select the most relevant experts. Finally, an attention-based combiner is introduced to synthesize the security proposals from the top-rated experts to produce a high-fidelity security strategy to cover the unseen scenarios. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed GDM-based MoE framework can accurately recognize the scenarios and properly select the experts, maintaining near-optimal secrecy rates across a continuum of wireless scenarios and outperforming traditional single-model paradigms.
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All authors Xiao Tang, Tong Hui, Chao Shen, Yichen Wang, Qinghe Du, Li Sun, Zhu Han

Information Theory · Cross-listed from cs.AI

Neutral-Atom-based Quantum Optimization for Resource Allocation in NOMA Networks

In wireless communication networks, many resource optimization problems are nondeterministic polynomial-time hard (NP-hard) due to their combinatorial nature and high computational complexity. Recently, neutral-atom-based quantum computing has emerged as a promising platform for efficiently solving such problems by leveraging quantum superposition and entanglement. However, its application to wireless communication optimization problems remains largely unexplored. In this paper, we investigate the use of neutral-atom quantum platforms to solve the maximum access problem (MAP), formulated as a mixed-integer programming task that jointly considers admission control, user clustering, channel assignment, and power allocation in a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA)-enabled uplink network. To reduce the computational burden, the MAP is equivalently reformulated as a maximum independent set (MIS) problem in graph theory. This reformulation enables the use of the neutral atom platform based on Rydberg atom arrays, where the MIS problem is naturally encoded into the physical geometry and blockade constraints of the quantum system. Numerical results demonstrate the feasibility and potential of this approach for addressing large-scale wireless resource optimization problems.
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All authors Patatchona Keyela, Remon Polus, Soumaya Cherkaoui, Ola Ahmad

Information Theory

The Most Informative Bit and Beyond: A Proof of the Courtade–Kumar Conjecture and Multibit Extensions

Let \(X=(X_1,\ldots,X_n)\) be uniform on the Boolean cube, and let \(Y\) be obtained by passing its coordinates independently through a binary symmetric channel with crossover probability \(p\). For a \(k\)-bit quantizer \(Q(X)\), reporting \(k\) input coordinates retains \(k(1-h_2(p))\) bits of information, making coordinate projections a natural quantization benchmark. For \(k=1\), this is the Courtade–Kumar conjecture: every Boolean function \(f\) satisfies \(I(f(X);Y)\leq 1-h_2(p)\), with equality for coordinate functions. We prove the conjecture in every dimension and for every crossover probability, without a balance assumption. The proof tracks the information gap relative to a coordinate as the channel correlation varies. After a monotone rearrangement, an entropy-flow identity relates the derivative of this gap to the edge boundary of the associated Boolean decision set. A sharp local entropy comparison, Fourier analysis, and logarithmic Sobolev estimates for pivotal sets imply that any positive gap must grow as the noise decreases, contradicting its nonpositive value at the noiseless endpoint. For \(k\geq8\), a coding-theoretic phenomenon emerges. We construct a shortened-Hamming-code quantizer that beats the coordinate benchmark for \(k=8\), and a direct-sum argument extends the failure to every \(k\geq8\). Thus structured coding can retain more information than coordinate selection. Exhaustive searches within several structured code families and Monte Carlo searches over random codebooks for \(2\leq k\leq7\) find that structured codebooks outperform random ones but remain below the coordinate benchmark. This motivates our conjecture that coordinate projections are optimal for \(2\leq k\leq7\).
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Information Theory

Affine Symmetries of Polynomial Roots with Multiplicities and Applications to Constacyclic Codes

Let $f(X)$ be a polynomial over a finite field, and let its defining function record the multiplicities of its roots. In this paper, we introduce the affine stabilizer group and the affine stabilizer group scheme of the defining function of $f(X)$. These objects characterize the affine symmetries of the roots of $f(X)$ together with their multiplicities. We establish structural descriptions of these affine stabilizers and relate them to the coefficient structure of $f(X)$. In particular, the affine stabilizer group determines quotient structures of the defining function, which yield canonical descriptions of the corresponding semi-invariant polynomial spaces. The resulting coefficient constraints provide explicit restrictions on the possible supports of polynomials with prescribed affine symmetries. The affine stabilizer group scheme further captures infinitesimal symmetries arising from multiple roots and gives refined coefficient constraints beyond those obtained from ordinary affine transformations. We apply this framework to generator polynomials of constacyclic codes over finite fields. The affine stabilizer structure of a generator polynomial induces subcodes defined by semi-invariant conditions and provides constraints on their dimensions and Hamming distances. In the special case of multiplicative symmetries, the construction specializes to the support-primitive decomposition of constacyclic codes.
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Information Theory · Cross-listed from eess.SP

Variational Bayesian Tensor Decomposition With Discrete Mixture Prior for Unsourced Random Access

Tensor-based modulation (TBM) schemes are a promising approach for unsourced random access (URA), where user separation relies on decomposing the received signal tensor via the canonical polyadic decomposition (CPD), typically computed with alternating least squares (ALS). Standard ALS, however, treats the factor matrices as unstructured and fails to exploit the discrete structure of the tensor sub-constellations. We propose DVB-ALS, a discrete variational Bayesian CPD framework with specific priors, tailored to a tensor structure with the corresponding encoding strategy, combined with iterative computation of an approximate posterior distribution. A discrete Gaussian mixture prior on one Grassmannian factor softly aligns the estimates toward the constellation points. The remaining factors are jointly modeled with a structured Gaussian prior whose posterior mean is constrained to the Khatri-Rao product manifold and posterior variance upper-bounded to prevent norm divergence during inference. The resulting closed-form coordinate ascent algorithm jointly estimates all latent factors and their uncertainties. We integrate DVB-ALS into DVB-TBM to design a complete URA receiver with single-user demapping, polar decoding with cyclic redundancy check (CRC) verification, and successive interference cancellation (SIC). Simulation results show significant gains over standard ALS-based decomposition and robust detection performance in URA settings, outperforming state-of-the-art schemes under high system loads.
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All authors Ala Baccar, Alexis Decurninge, Alberto Rech, Sofiane Kharbech, Eric Pierre Simon, Joumana Farah

Information Theory

On the OpenAI whole-cube bound

This is an essentially derivative note, whose goal is to interpret the 'whole-cube' bound of OpenAI for binary codes in a possibly somewhat more accessible way. This is attained, in part, by connecting it to some previously known results. All of the heavy technical lifting in the interpretation below is also due to the OpenAI language models ChatGPT 5.6 and ChatGPT 6. With that, we hope that the statements of the main results, the ensuing discussion, and the arguments themselves may be of some interest.
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Information Theory · Cross-listed from cs.DM

Factorisability of Low Dimensional Non-Negative Integer Matrices

We consider the problem of determining if a given two-dimensional nonnegative integer matrix $M$ is the product of two such matrices, excluding trivial units. A matrix $M$ with no such factorisation is called prime and therefore belongs to the minimal (infinite rank) generator of $2 \times 2$ matrices over the natural numbers, otherwise it is called composite. We also consider the problem of finding a (non-unique) factorisation of a composite matrix. Our results have applications in computational group theory and the theory of codes, where such matrices are called incidence matrices. We analyse the complexity of primality and finding a factorisation for a composite matrix, providing a first efficient algorithm.
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All authors Paul C. Bell, Eva Foster, Daniel Reidenbach, Pavel Semukhin

Information Theory · Cross-listed from eess.SP

LUNA: Luneburg-Lens-Aided Reconfigurable Array for 6G-and-Advanced Wireless Networks

This article introduces the LUneburg-lens-aided recoNfigurable Array (LUNA), an antenna architecture that unifies multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and network-controlled repeater (NCR) functionalities in the Luneburg lens-enabled hardware platform. A Luneburg lens, fabricated from graded-index dielectric materials, passively converts the radiation of a low-gain feed into a highly directional beam without active phase shifting, while a dense passive feed bank and a reconfigurable feed-selection network electronically switch the beam directions with minimal hardware complexity and power consumption. We commence by reviewing the basic principles and application history of Luneburg lenses in radar and wireless communications, which motivates their role in 6G-and-advanced networks. Then, we highlight how a Luneburg lens and a reconfigurable feed array construct both LUNA-MIMO and LUNA-NCR, where the lens and feed bank can be reused across functions and frequency bands. Case studies demonstrate that LUNA achieves the satisfactory spectral and energy efficiency with a few radio-frequency chains, and it also improves positioning performance for sensing tasks. Finally, some open problems and research directions are provided to inspire follow-up research on LUNA.
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All authors Ziwei Wan, Zhen Gao, Shuping Dang, Michail Matthaiou, Zhaocheng Wang, Sheng Chen

Information Theory · Cross-listed from cs.LG

Neural Approximation by Function Composition: Rigidity and Doubly Exponential Convergence

Deep neural networks approximate functions by composing affine maps with nonlinear activations, but how composition itself creates approximation power is not yet fully understood. We investigate a fundamental mechanism: geometrically weighted sums of iterates of a single scalar generator function. This mechanism underpins the classical tent-map construction of the function \(x - x^2\) and related recursive representations used by Yarotsky, W. E, et al., to analyze the approximation powers of deep neural networks. First, we establish a rigidity theorem: for continuous piecewise linear generators with a finite number of segments, any \(C^3\) function that can be represented in this way is at most quadratic. For non-affine quadratic functions, the geometric factor is at least $1/4$. This result both reveals limitations of the tent-map approach and complements existing methods based on hierarchical bases and recursive polynomial constructions. Second, using an exact remainder identity as guidance, we construct a smooth generator whose iterates yield doubly exponential error decay in total depth for square approximation and, through multiplication modules, for each fixed polynomial. For power series with absolutely summable coefficients on \([-1,1]^d\), distributing depth according to monomial degree yields a uniform approximation error of order \(O(e^{-cL^{1/d}})\) on each interior cube. These findings demonstrate how generator dynamics and remainder estimates govern depth allocation and approximation rates of deep neural networks.
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Information Theory · Cross-listed from cs.LG

Minimal Recurrent Behavioral Memory for Imitation under Partial Observability

What is the least recurrent memory needed to reproduce a specified expert under partial observability? The instantaneous requirement is the conditional entropy of the expert's behavioral quotient, but recurrence must also preserve distinctions that future observations will not restore before use. We characterize this minimal recurrent behavioral memory by a compatibility relation: under transitivity its classes attain the exact minimum, while the general case is an entropy minimization over closed compatible state assignments, with exact certificates on finite instances. A sole-carrier measurement protocol separates behavioral sufficiency, excess code rate, and information carried by observations or other memory paths; experimental bit requirements refer to the induced symbolic behavioral model under the stated occupancy. Across manipulation tasks, learned code rates remain near zero- and two-bit requirements as hidden modes grow to $512$, and anticipatory memory follows a $2\to1\to0$ requirement despite zero instantaneous demand during waiting. Learning this representation remains difficult: event-agnostic future-behavior supervision yields $36/40$ sufficient seeds with one frozen configuration and improves the longest-horizon pixel setting from $0/8$ to $6/8$ sufficient held-out seeds (closed-loop success from $0.08$ to $0.57$). On unmodified community benchmarks, the protocol certifies delay-independent requirements, which sufficient codes match at mid-delay. The supervision aids commitment but can induce predictive surplus; annealing it lets imitation and rate training reduce that surplus, separating the information-theoretic target from the ability to learn it.
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All authors Xianyao Li, Fang Xu, Rui Min, Ruitong Tian, Jing Du

Information Theory

The ISAC Tradeoff Cliff: Fundamental Limits under Waveform Uncertainty and Finite Blocklength

Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) enables the joint design of communication and sensing functionalities using a shared waveform, but its performance critically depends on the accuracy of the transmitted signal available at the sensing receiver. In practical systems, this signal is obtained by finite blocklength decoding . This paper develops an analytical framework for quantifying the impact of the associated decoding uncertainty on sensing performance. We model decoding errors via an equivalent noise formulation that captures their second-order effect on the sensing receiver, and derive the corresponding Fisher Information and Cramér–Rao Bound (CRB). The resultant characterization reveals a fundamental sensing–communication tradeoff governed by the communication rate and decoding reliability. This shows that the classical finite blocklength reliability results in a fundamentally new insight concerning ISAC systems: when the decoded communication waveforms are reused as sensing references in a data-aided fashion, the communication reliability boundary also acts as a sensing-information bound. {We identify and characterize a sharp transition in sensing performance – referred to as the Tradeoff Cliff – arising from finite blocklength reliability effects.} This transition separates the regimes of near-ideal sensing performance from those of excessive estimation error as the communication rate approaches capacity. Furthermore, we provide an explicit expression for the critical rate at which this transition occurs, showing its dependence on blocklength, channel dispersion, and target error probability. Monte Carlo simulations under both AWGN and block fading channels validate the theoretical analysis and confirm the trend observed. The results provide design insights for operating ISAC systems with an appropriate reliability margin to avoid severe sensing degradation.
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