The Capacity of the Semi-Deterministic Cognitive Interference Channel and its Application to Constant Gap Results for the Gaussian Channel

The cognitive interference channel (C-IFC) consists of a classical two-user interference channel in which the message of one user (the "primary" user) is non-causally available at the transmitter of the other user (the "cognitive" user). We obtain the capacity of the semi-deterministic C-IFC: a discrete memoryless C-IFC in which the cognitive receiver output is a noise-less deterministic function of the channel inputs. We then use the insights obtained from the capacity-achieving scheme for the semi-deterministic model to derive new, unified and tighter constant gap results for the complex-valued Gaussian C-IFC. We prove: (1) a constant additive gap (difference between inner and outer bounds) of half a bit/sec/Hz per real dimension, of relevance at high SNRs, and (b) a constant multiplicative gap (ratio between outer and inner bounds) of a factor two, of relevance at low SNRs.