Phase-Resolved Molecular Timing Channels under Pulsatile Drift: Volterra Characterization and Corrected Inverse-Gaussian Approximation

Abstract

Pulsatile drift makes molecular arrival times depend on the release phase. We study a one-dimensional absorbing timing channel with constant diffusivity and positive-mean sinusoidal drift. A moving-boundary formulation yields an exact Volterra characterization of the phase-conditioned first-hitting law, with regularity, uniqueness, properness, and moment properties. Within this framework, we integrate and assess the corrected inverse-Gaussian (C-IG) approximation introduced in our conference work. Comparisons with a numerically validated Volterra reference distinguish raw-kernel mass discrepancy from normalized shape errors and show that close cumulative agreement can coexist with density and peak-count discrepancies, particularly under transient backflow. Phase-family analysis further shows that a small between-phase contribution to delay variance can coexist with substantial differences between conditional cumulative distributions. We connect these conditional laws and protocol-induced mixtures to timing likelihoods and absorption probabilities within a prescribed reception window, clarifying the arrival-time structures preserved by C-IG and the phase information concealed by averaging.

arXiv comment18 pages, 5 figures. Substantially expanded journal version with an updated title: exact Volterra characterization and proofs, expanded numerical validation, and phase-resolved channel analysis. The conference version is available as arXiv:2602.15335v4