Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described that provide for the indication of communication information using a correlation between synchronization signals transmitted by a base station for cell acquisition. The communication information may include a physical channel timing parameter such as synchronization periodicity, a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) periodicity, a beam sweep periodicity, or a cyclic prefix (CP) type. Communication information may also indicate the presence of a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) transmission or a mobility reference signal (MRS) transmission. The correlation may be a phase shift between multiple signals or may be based on precoding matrices used during transmission processing of the synchronization signals across subcarriers and antenna ports.