On the information-theoretic capacity of magnetic recording systems in the presence of media noise

Summary form only given. We study the effect of media noise, such as pulse jitter, pulse widening and partial signal erasure on the information-theoretic capacity of the magnetic recording channel. This capacity is the ultimate limit in signal-to-noise ratio below which reliable storing and retrieving of data is not possible. It is used to investigate potential gains of advanced signal processing and coding schemes.