Publications [#386835] of Henry Pfister

Papers Published

1. Reeves, G; Pfister, HD, Reed-Muller Codes on BMS Channels Achieve Vanishing Bit-Error Probability for all Rates Below Capacity, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 70 no. 2 (February, 2024), pp. 920-949 [doi]
   (last updated on 2026/02/08)

   Abstract:
   This paper considers the performance of Reed-Muller (RM) codes transmitted over binary memoryless symmetric (BMS) channels under bitwise maximum-a-posteriori (bit-MAP) decoding. Its main result is that, for a fixed BMS channel, the family of binary RM codes can achieve a vanishing bit-error probability at rates approaching the channel capacity. This partially resolves a long-standing open problem that connects information theory and error-correcting codes. In contrast with the earlier result for the binary erasure channel, the new proof does not rely on hypercontractivity. Instead, it combines a nesting property of RM codes with new information inequalities relating the generalized extrinsic information transfer function and the extrinsic minimum mean-squared error.