A two-user Gaussian Z-Interference Channel (GZIC) is considered, in which
encoders are connected through noiseless links with finite capacities. In this
setting, prior to each transmission block the encoders communicate with each
other over the cooperative links. The capacity region and the sum-capacity of
the channel are characterized within 1.71 bits per user and 2 bits in total,
respectively. It is also established that properly sharing the total limited
cooperation capacity between the cooperative links may enhance the achievable
region, even when compared to the case of unidirectional transmitter
cooperation with infinite cooperation capacity. To obtain the results,
genie-aided upper bounds on the sum-capacity and cut-set bounds on the
individual rates are compared with the achievable rate region. In the
interference-limited regime, the achievable scheme enjoys a simple type of
Han-Kobayashi signaling, together with the zero-forcing, and basic relaying
techniques. In the noise-limited regime, it is shown that treating interference
as noise achieves the capacity region up to a single bit per user.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures, submitted to IEEE Transactions on Information
Theor