Sum capacity of K user Gaussian degraded interference channels

This paper studies a family of genie-MAC (multiple access channel) outer bounds for K-user Gaussian interference channels. This family is inspired by existing genie-aided bounding mechanisms, but differs from current approaches in its optimization problem formulation and application. The fundamental idea behind these bounds is to create a group of genie receivers that form multiple access channels that can decode a subset of the original interference channel´s messages. The MAC sum capacity of each of the genie receivers provides an outer bound on the sum of rates for this subset. The genie-MAC outer bounds are used to derive new sum-capacity results. In particular, this paper derives sum-capacity in closed-form for the class of K-user Gaussian degraded interference channels. The sum-capacity achieving scheme is shown to be a successive interference cancellation scheme. This result generalizes a known result for two-user channels to K-user channels.