Time-Sharing Vs. Source-Splitting in the Slepian-Wolf Problem: Error Exponents Analysis

We discuss two approaches for decoding at arbitrary rates in the Slepian-Wolf problem - time sharing and source splitting - both of which rely on constituent vertex decoders. We consider the error exponents for both schemes and conclude that source-splitting is more robust at coding at arbitrary rates, as the error exponent for time-sharing degrades significantly at rates near vertices.As a by-product of our analysis, we exhibit an interesting connection between minimum meansquared error estimation and error exponents.