On the reliability function of variable-rate Slepian-Wolf coding

Lower and upper bounds on the reliability function of variable-rate Slepian-Wolf coding are derivedo The two bounds coincide at rates close to the Slepian-Wolf limito It is shown that variable-rate Slepian-Wolf codes can significantly outperform fixed-rate Slepian-Wolf codes in terms of rate-error tradeoff. The reliability function of variable-rate Slepian-Wolf coding with rate below the Slepian-Wolf limit is completely characterized. In sharp contrast with fixed-rate Slepian-Wolf codes for which the correct decoding probability decays to zero exponentially fast if the rate is below the Slepian-Wolf limit, the correct decoding probability of variable-rate Slepian-Wolf codes can be bounded away from zero.