I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, working on the foundations of thermal physics and philosophy of mathematical modelling. As for the former, I examine the relationship between generalised fluctuation theorems and the Second Law; and for the latter I examine under what conditions does an explanation of a system's high-level features become insensitive to their low-level features. 

In my PhD thesis, at the University of Cambridge (2023-26), I examine the foundations of statistical thermodynamics, which is a rather unorthodox way of looking at both thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, but gaining popularity lately: here I show why an operational and relational account of statistical thermodynamics dissolves several puzzles concerning the (operational) justification of the state of thermal equilibrium, the role of probabilities in the apparent subjectivity of thermodynamics, and in what way autonomous coarse-grained dynamics may or may not approximate an open system's thermodynamics.  

I became interested in philosophical questions during my first PhD in applied mathematics (and philosophy) at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand (2019-23). Here I worked on foundations of applied topology, examining whether topological models of dynamical and complex systems contain enough information to explain their features 'non-causally'. (Thesis here.) During this PhD, I held visiting PhD studentships at the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, and a research fellowship at the Institute Vienna Circle, University of Vienna.   

I am also interested in Buddhist philosophy (as applied to mathematical realism and its parallels to modern philosophy) and Indian astronomical traditions.

In my spare time, I like to produce electronic music (techno mostly), play with friendly dogs, go around mountains, do some photography, and enjoy table tennis occasionally.  

I am open to collaborations in foundations of thermal physics and philosophy of mathematical modelling should you be interested in my research. My CV (as of May 2026) can be found here and you can reach out to me at aditya9835[at]gmail[dot]com

Below is a talk that I gave recently on the anatomy of thermal equilibrium and its relationship to fluctuation-dissipation theorems: Foundations of Thermodynamics Workshop, July 2026, NTU Singapore.