Welcome! I’m Varun, a theoretical physicist.

I think about how irreversibility, mechanical phenomena, thermodynamics, and nonequilibrium macroscopic behavior emerge from microscopic quantum laws that are fundamentally linear, reversible, and probabilistic.

To address these questions, I have been developing a framework that incorporates the conditions for acquiring knowledge about the physical world alongside the familiar frameworks of quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics. If we take the anthropic principle to mean that any observation of the universe is necessarily conditioned by the fact that an observer exists, then my framework can be understood as a form of anthropic reasoning. However, it extends beyond human observers to encompass any physically possible observer, making the term “anthropic” a historical misnomer in this context.

Despite its exotic-sounding name, much of my work falls within the fields of nonequilibrium many-body quantum matter, quantum information, and the history of physics.

Another project I am pursuing explores how far we can push AI systems to perform the work of physicists, while also grappling with the existential question: “Then what are we supposed to do? What is our purpose as scientists?”

Here is my CV. If any of my writing, activities, or research sparks your interest, I’d love to hear from you.