# Samir Varma

> Physicist, hedge-fund founder, and author. A working bibliography across theoretical physics, finance, AI, and applied
> systems — 1991 to present — plus books, essays, and press.

This file is a plain-text index of this site for automated readers. It mirrors the linked pages;
those pages are canonical. Every publication below has its own page on this site carrying full
metadata, abstract, and a resolvable DOI where one exists.

Most publication pages also serve a machine-readable bundle at predictable paths — a full-text
Markdown rendering of the paper at `<page>paper.md`, citation metadata at `<page>CITATION.cff`,
and terms at `<page>LICENSE.txt`. Where a bundle exists it is linked inline below as `[md]`.
Publication pages additionally carry `ScholarlyArticle` JSON-LD and Highwire `citation_*` tags.

Note on licensing: a Markdown twin is an automatic plain-text rendering of the published PDF and
inherits the publisher's terms; see each bundle's LICENSE.txt before redistributing.

## Pages

- [Home](https://samirvarma.com/)
- [About](https://samirvarma.com/about/)
- [Writings](https://samirvarma.com/writings/)
- [Books](https://samirvarma.com/books/)
- [Publications](https://samirvarma.com/publications/)
- [Press](https://samirvarma.com/media/)

- [Risk Timing®](https://samirvarma.com/risk-timing/) — the framework behind VS Asset Management, described conceptually; not an offer of anything.
- [Other views](https://samirvarma.com/other-views/)
- [Privacy](https://samirvarma.com/privacy/)
- [The Science of Free Will](https://samirvarma.com/books/the-science-of-free-will/) — book page
- [Quantum Theory meets Gravity](https://samirvarma.com/books/quantum-theory-meets-gravity/) — book page
- [Investor Behavior and Investment Strategies](https://samirvarma.com/books/investor-behavior-and-investment-strategies/) — book page

## Publications

### Physics

- [Leading four-Goldstone inelasticity in custodial partial waves](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2026-four-goldstone-inelasticity-plb/) — Samir Varma, Physics Letters B, 2026. DOI: [10.1016/j.physletb.2026.140915](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2026.140915). [Zenodo (data/code)](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21762619). Computes the complete leading O(p^8) four-Goldstone (2→4) unitarity cut in the massless parity-even O(4)/O(3) Goldstone effective field theory, fixing the coefficient γ_11 = (5.0349 ± 0.0003) × 10^−7 that any inelastic completion matched through O(p^8) must reproduce. Also establishes the exact leading-order positive p…
- [Unified Fermion Mass Ratios from Orbifold Conformal Field Theory](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2026-unified-fermion-mass-ratios-orbifold/) — Samir Varma, Modern Physics Letters A, 2026. DOI: [10.1142/S0217732326500732](https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217732326500732). [md](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2026-unified-fermion-mass-ratios-orbifold/paper.md) Builds on the universal pattern in fermion mass ratios using orbifold conformal field theory.
- [Universal pattern in fermion mass ratios and implications for flavor models](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2025-hidden-pattern-particle-masses/) — Samir Varma, European Physical Journal C, 2025. DOI: [10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14771-0](https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14771-0). [Springer](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14771-0). [md](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2025-hidden-pattern-particle-masses/paper.md) Particle masses span 12 orders of magnitude — from the electron to the top quark — with no apparent pattern. This paper reveals that a single mathematical expression, using only two basic labels (generation number and electric charge), captures the structure of fermion mass ratios.
- [Quantum Field Theory in Curved Spacetime: An Introduction to Gravity's Impact on the Double-Slit Experiment](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2025-qft-curved-spacetime/) — Samir Varma, Arie Kapulkin, IntechOpen (Quantum Theory meets Gravity), 2025. DOI: [10.5772/intechopen.1012307](https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.1012307). [md](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2025-qft-curved-spacetime/paper.md) Derives closed-form expressions for gravitational phase shifts in quantum interference, finding Δϕ ≈ 2.7×10⁻²¹ rad for ⁸⁷Rb atoms in a 10-m orbital interferometer.
- [Quantum Scattering Theory in Light of an Exactly Solvable Model with Rearrangement Collisions](https://samirvarma.com/publications/quantum-scattering-theory-paper/) — Samir Varma, E.C.G. Sudarshan, Journal of Mathematical Physics, 1996. DOI: [10.1063/1.531476](https://doi.org/10.1063/1.531476). arXiv: [hep-th/9510170](https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/9510170). [md](https://samirvarma.com/publications/quantum-scattering-theory-paper/paper.md) Co-authored with E.C.G. Sudarshan, distills the core innovation of the dissertation into a focused scientific analysis. Presents the model's application to quantum field theory and highlights its implications for scattering processes.
- [Strongly Interacting W's and Z's and the Elastic Unitarity Constraint](https://samirvarma.com/publications/strongly-interacting-ws-zs/) — Silas Beane, Samir Varma, Physics Letters B 313 (1993) 165–170, 1993. DOI: [10.1016/0370-2693(93)91207-4](https://doi.org/10.1016/0370-2693(93)91207-4). arXiv: [hep-ph/9304233](https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/9304233). [md](https://samirvarma.com/publications/strongly-interacting-ws-zs/paper.md) Explores the interplay between strongly interacting gauge bosons and elastic unitarity constraints within the Standard Model, using a chiral Lagrangian approach.
- [Quantum Scattering Theory in the Light of an Exactly Solvable Model with Rearrangement Collisions (PhD Dissertation)](https://samirvarma.com/publications/dissertation-quantum-scattering-theory/) — Samir Varma, University of Texas at Austin (PhD, advisor: E.C.G. Sudarshan; UMI 9413621), 1993. [md](https://samirvarma.com/publications/dissertation-quantum-scattering-theory/paper.md) Completed under the mentorship of E.C.G. Sudarshan and reviewed by a committee including Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg, this dissertation introduces an exactly solvable quantum field theory that incorporates rearrangement collisions.
- [Finite-Temperature Radiative Corrections to Compton Scattering](https://samirvarma.com/publications/finite-temp-compton-scattering/) — Samir Varma, Physical Review D 46, No. 8, 1992. DOI: [10.1103/PhysRevD.46.3630](https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.46.3630). [md](https://samirvarma.com/publications/finite-temp-compton-scattering/paper.md) Calculates the finite-temperature O(α) radiative corrections to Compton scattering cross sections, employing the real-time finite-temperature formalism with relevance to astrophysics and cosmology.
- [Onset of Wavy Vortices in the Finite-Length Couette-Taylor Problem](https://samirvarma.com/publications/couette-taylor-wavy-vortices/) — W. Stuart Edwards, Silas Beane, Samir Varma, Physics of Fluids A, 1991. DOI: [10.1063/1.858203](https://doi.org/10.1063/1.858203). [md](https://samirvarma.com/publications/couette-taylor-wavy-vortices/paper.md) Studies the transition from Taylor vortex flow to wavy vortex flow in the Couette-Taylor system, focusing on the effects of finite cylinder length.

### AI & Cognition

- ["My Newest Patient Cannot Blink": A Therapy-Loop Prompt Pattern for Trustworthy AI](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2025-therapy-loop-prompt-pattern/) — Samir Varma, Bernard Beitman, Zenodo, 2025. DOI: [10.5281/zenodo.15556365](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15556365). [md](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2025-therapy-loop-prompt-pattern/paper.md) Bernard Beitman and Samir Varma explain how to use principles from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to simply and cheaply improve output from Large Language Models.

### Finance & Economics

- [Dead-band Monetary Policy: A Practitioner's Case against Point-targeting](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2026-dead-band-monetary-policy/) — Samir Varma, Business Economics, 2026. DOI: [10.1057/s11369-026-00466-1](https://doi.org/10.1057/s11369-026-00466-1). [Springer (subscribers)](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s11369-026-00466-1). [Free view (publisher)](https://rdcu.be/KJCc1Rkt5b6a). [Download PDF (SSRN)](https://ssrn.com/abstract=7233381). [FT letter (Sep 2026)](https://www.ft.com/content/340949ac-e84b-4d3a-8c5b-5780e9fe8b5e). A 50-basis-point Fed rate move sustained for a year moves inflation by only 0.09–0.49 percentage points — below the 0.27–0.37 real-time measurement noise floor — while the rapid 2021 money-supply expansion was overlooked before inflation hit four-decade highs. The paper argues for a dead-band regime: hold the funds rat…
- [From Model Output to Portfolio Authority](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2026-model-output-portfolio-authority/) — Samir Varma, Journal of Portfolio Management (forthcoming), 2026. A one-page Portfolio Authority Record for investment committees deciding whether a model should manage real capital. Turns model-generated weights into a bounded decision: how much capital the model may manage, for how long, under what conditions, and what replaces it if those conditions fail. In the worked illustratio…
- [Destruction as Commitment: Burning Unsold Luxury Inventory and the Economics of a Ban](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2026-luxury-destruction-commitment/) — Samir Varma, SSRN Working Paper, 2026. DOI: [10.2139/ssrn.7169258](https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.7169258). Models luxury brands' practice of destroying unsold inventory and the July 2026 EU prohibition on the practice. Argues that the causal arrow between "destruction the harm" and "prohibition the remedy" can run the other way: a forced ex-ante quantity commitment can reduce output and shift sales into off-price channels, …
- [From Investor Psychology to Strategy Design: Evidence, Mechanisms, and Implementation](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2026-investor-psychology-strategy-design/) — Samir Varma, IntechOpen (Investor Behavior and Investment Strategies), 2026. DOI: [10.5772/intechopen.1016617](https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.1016617). How findings from behavioral finance translate into actual investment strategies — what the evidence supports, what the mechanisms imply, and what implementation looks like in practice. Published online-first in the IntechOpen volume Investor Behavior and Investment Strategies, which Samir Varma is editing.
- [Within-Venue Monitoring of BTC/USDT Liquidity and Resiliency on Binance: A Queueing-Theoretic Framework](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2026-bitcoin-liquidity-resiliency/) — Samir Varma, Journal of Risk and Financial Management 19, 372, 2026. DOI: [10.3390/jrfm19050372](https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm19050372). [Zenodo (code, current snapshot)](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19742219). [Zenodo (code, earlier snapshot)](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19335853). [Zenodo (replication pipeline)](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18644286). [md](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2026-bitcoin-liquidity-resiliency/paper.md) Builds a coherent monitoring framework for tracking liquidity, directional pressure, and recovery dynamics in crypto venues, applied to BTC/USDT on Binance using a queueing-theoretic approach.
- [The False Promise of Drawdown Rules: New Evidence and a Better Framework](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2025-drawdown-rules/) — Samir Varma, Journal of Portfolio Management 52 (1), 145–161, 2025. DOI: [10.3905/jpm.2025.1.765](https://doi.org/10.3905/jpm.2025.1.765). [md](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2025-drawdown-rules/paper.md) Many of the world's largest money managers, such as hedge fund pod shops, use drawdown rules to manage risk: if you are down more than X percent, you are out. This paper demonstrates with simple examples that this kind of rule is statistically invalid, counterproductive, and increases losses, and proposes a better fram…

## Books

- [Quantum Theory meets Gravity](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2025-quantum-theory-meets-gravity/) — Oliver K. Baker (co-editor), Djordje Minic (co-editor), Samir Varma (co-editor & chapter contributor), IntechOpen, 2026. DOI: [10.5772/intechopen.1004960](https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.1004960). [IntechOpen](https://www.intechopen.com/books/1004215). ISBN 978-1-83634-601-2. General relativity and quantum mechanics are the twin pillars of modern physics, yet their unification remains one of the deepest open problems in science. This volume explores the fertile territory where these frameworks meet — the semiclassical frontier — asking what can be reliably calculated when quantum fields pro…
- [The Science of Free Will](https://samirvarma.com/publications/2024-science-of-free-will/) — Samir Varma, Iff Books (Collective Ink), 2025. A groundbreaking exploration of how physics, computer science, and neuroscience are converging to resolve the ancient puzzle of free will. Through rigorous analysis of quantum mechanics, computation, and human agency, the book demonstrates how determinism and free will can coexist, offering profound implications for AI…

## Patents

- [System and Method for Traffic Decongestion](https://samirvarma.com/publications/patent-us10706461/) — Samir Varma, Daniel Sarfati, USPTO, 2020.
- [System and Method for Software Adoption](https://samirvarma.com/publications/patent-software-adoption/) — Samir Varma, Daniel Sarfati, USPTO (US Patent App. 20190354912; Applango Systems), 2019.
- [Methods and Systems for Representing Relational Information in 3D Space](https://samirvarma.com/publications/patent-relational-info-3d/) — Samir Varma, Michael Wayne Shore, USPTO (US Patent App. 20180096432), 2018.
- [Systems and Methods Using Consumer Participation in Association with an Event to Effect the Allocation of Credit to Service Providers](https://samirvarma.com/publications/patent-consumer-participation-credit-allocation/) — Michael W. Shore, Samir Varma, Luis M. Ortiz, USPTO (US Patent App. 20170337575), 2017.
- [System and Method for the Generation and Transfer of a Contingently Deliverable Property Right](https://samirvarma.com/publications/patent-contingent-property-right/) — Stephen Jeffrey Salzer, Samir Varma, USPTO (US Patent App. 20170308674), 2017.
- [Method and System for Analysis, Display and Dissemination of Financial Information Using Resampled Statistical Methods (Application)](https://samirvarma.com/publications/patent-financial-resampling-app/) — Samir Varma, USPTO (US Patent App. 20160005127), 2016.
- [Management of Information-Technology Services](https://samirvarma.com/publications/patent-it-services-mgmt/) — Daniel Sarfati, Tanya Epstein, Bradley Joseph Hlista, Robert Jon Harrington, Samir Varma, USPTO (US Patent App. 20150172400), 2015.
- [Method and System for Analyzing Investment Information](https://samirvarma.com/publications/patent-us8606672/) — Samir Varma, Michael Wayne Shore, USPTO, 2013.
- [Method and System for Analysis, Display, and Dissemination of Financial Information Using Resampled Statistical Methods](https://samirvarma.com/publications/patent-us6349291/) — Samir Varma, USPTO, 2002.

## Elsewhere

- [Substack](https://substack.com/@samirvarma)
- [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/samirvarma.bsky.social)
- [Medium](https://medium.com/@samirvarma)
- [X](https://twitter.com/samirvarma)
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/samir-varma-0806b/)
- [VS Asset Management](https://vsasset.com/) — the investment firm Samir Varma founded. Its
  machine-readable index is at [vsasset.com/llms.txt](https://vsasset.com/llms.txt). Note that
  nothing on that site is an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security.