Threshold Rates for Properties of Random Codes

Suppose that <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {P}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is a property that may be satisfied by a random code <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$C \subset \Sigma ^{n}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> . For example, for some <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$p \in (0,1)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> , <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {P}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> might be the property that there exist three elements of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$C$ </tex-math></inline-formula> that lie in some Hamming ball of radius <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$pn$ </tex-math></inline-formula> . We say that <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$R^{\ast}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">threshold rate</i> for <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {P}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> if a random code of rate <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$R^{\ast} + \varepsilon $ </tex-math></inline-formula> is very likely to satisfy <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {P}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> , while a random code of rate <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$R^{\ast} - \varepsilon $ </tex-math></inline-formula> is very unlikely to satisfy <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {P}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> . While random codes are well-studied in coding theory, even the threshold rates for relatively simple properties like the one above are not well understood. We characterize threshold rates for a rich class of properties. These properties, like the example above, are defined by the inclusion of specific sets of codewords which are also suitably “symmetric.” For properties in this class, we show that the threshold rate is in fact <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">equal</i> to the lower bound that a simple first-moment calculation obtains. Our techniques not only pin down the threshold rate for the property <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {P}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> above, they give sharp bounds on the threshold rate for list-recovery in several parameter regimes, as well as an efficient algorithm for estimating the threshold rates for <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">list-recovery</i> in general.