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Main Authors: Berman, Amit, Doubchak, Ariel, Erez, Uri, Philosof, Tal, Shapir, Ilya
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.20129
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author Berman, Amit
Doubchak, Ariel
Erez, Uri
Philosof, Tal
Shapir, Ilya
author_facet Berman, Amit
Doubchak, Ariel
Erez, Uri
Philosof, Tal
Shapir, Ilya
contents This work develops a rate-distortion-based approach to stochastic Chase decoding of algebraic codes over binary memoryless symmetric (BMS) channels, replacing the heuristics traditionally used to determine flip probabilities with information-theoretically grounded flipping rules. In particular, we reinterpret stochastic Chase decoding as a random-coding construction for error-pattern covering codes. Our approach builds on the framework of Nguyen et al., who introduced a rate-distortion formulation of multiple-attempt decoding for Reed-Solomon codes over nonbinary channels. In their formulation, erasure patterns are generated so as to align with, and thereby mask, hard-decision errors. We adapt this framework to the design of bit-flip probabilities for Chase decoding over BMS channels. This yields an explicit characterization of the asymptotically optimal bit-flipping rule, together with the expected list size required to ensure that the transmitted codeword appears in the decoding list with high probability. Moreover, for binary and quaternary symmetric channels, we demonstrate that the optimal bit-flipping rule, determined by exhaustive search, closely matches the information-theoretic rule even at short block lengths.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_20129
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Stochastic Chase Decoding for BMS Channels via Rate Distortion Theory
Berman, Amit
Doubchak, Ariel
Erez, Uri
Philosof, Tal
Shapir, Ilya
Information Theory
This work develops a rate-distortion-based approach to stochastic Chase decoding of algebraic codes over binary memoryless symmetric (BMS) channels, replacing the heuristics traditionally used to determine flip probabilities with information-theoretically grounded flipping rules. In particular, we reinterpret stochastic Chase decoding as a random-coding construction for error-pattern covering codes. Our approach builds on the framework of Nguyen et al., who introduced a rate-distortion formulation of multiple-attempt decoding for Reed-Solomon codes over nonbinary channels. In their formulation, erasure patterns are generated so as to align with, and thereby mask, hard-decision errors. We adapt this framework to the design of bit-flip probabilities for Chase decoding over BMS channels. This yields an explicit characterization of the asymptotically optimal bit-flipping rule, together with the expected list size required to ensure that the transmitted codeword appears in the decoding list with high probability. Moreover, for binary and quaternary symmetric channels, we demonstrate that the optimal bit-flipping rule, determined by exhaustive search, closely matches the information-theoretic rule even at short block lengths.
title Stochastic Chase Decoding for BMS Channels via Rate Distortion Theory
topic Information Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.20129