Deal structuring · Private credit · Technical consulting
Tigran Kalaydzhyan, PhD
I came to finance by an unconventional route: after a decade of research at institutions including NASA, Caltech and DESY, I moved into quantitative stock trading and later real estate portfolio management. I’ve always enjoyed figuring out how complex systems work and finding out whether the theory holds up in practice. Today I structure deals, run lending and investment partnerships, and scout for alternative investments in different countries, building everything from first principles and testing it in the real world.
I share what I learn, including opportunities that are hard to find online, in my Substack and my book.
New book
The Art of Deal Structuring
One hundred ways to create value out of thin air
Value isn’t conserved: a well-structured deal can leave every side better off, with the dealmaker earning a share of what was created. This book is a field guide to how that happens: 100 deal structures, from lease options and syndicated bridge loans to royalty roll-ups, distressed lending and tax credit exchanges, each explained in plain language.
It is organized around twelve sources of market inefficiency and a practical framework for spotting, structuring and closing deals. It’s written for entrepreneurs, investors and operators ready to turn their expertise, network and capital into equity and cash flow.
Where to find my work
Writing & ventures
My writing, my firm and the fund I manage.
Atomic Developers on Substack
An unusual view on finance, business and international living, plus practical book reviews. Ideas built from first principles, away from the hype, and tested with real money.
SubscribeQuantum Mosaic LLC
A real estate debt fund financing residential projects, land and early-stage development.
Visit qmosaicllc.comAtomic Developers LLC
A consultancy and research firm that manages syndications and partnerships, including a lending partnership and a VC investment club, and scouts for new alternative investments around the world.
Visit atomicdevelopers.comCareer
Experience
From theoretical physics to quantitative finance to running my own funds.
- 2021 – presentBusiness OwnerAtomic Developers, Abilene, TX: deal structuring, private credit, wealth management, consulting and independent publishing
- 2020 – 2023Business OwnerAbilene Rental Homes: residential rentals and land in Texas and Indiana
- 2019 – 2020Quantitative AnalystA.R.T. Advisors LLC, New York: statistical arbitrage for a $5B equity portfolio
- 2010 – 2018ResearcherNASA JPL / Caltech, University of Illinois at Chicago, Stony Brook University, DESY Hamburg
Background
Ph.D. in Natural SciencesUniversity of Hamburg, Germany · 2013 · Read the thesis (PDF)
Specialist Diploma in Theoretical PhysicsLomonosov Moscow State University · 2010
35 scientific publications1000+ citations · 100+ conference talks and invited seminars
LanguagesRussian, English, Spanish, German
Full resume (PDF)
Before finance
Scientific work
Theoretical physics at NASA JPL/Caltech, Stony Brook, UIC and DESY: tests of gravity, dark matter searches with atomic clocks in space, quark-gluon plasma and string theory.
Research interests
From fundamental physics in space to the strong force.
- Tests of fundamental physics in space, dark matter searches with atomic sensors
- Nuclear Theory (QGP, Heavy-Ion Collisions)
- AdS/CFT-correspondence, String Theory
- Lattice QCD, Confinement, QCD phase diagram
- Nonperturbative methods in QFT and Condensed Matter Physics
Conference presentations & seminar talks
Slides are available for download where linked.
2017
- Searching for dark matter with atomic clocks in spaceNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, La Cañada Flintridge, CA, USA
- Searching for dark matter with atomic clocks in spaceUniversity of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
- Searching for dark matter with atomic clocks in spaceJPL postdoc posters, La Cañada Flintridge, CA, USA
- Searching for dark matter with atomic clocks in spaceForschungszentrum DESY, Hamburg, Germany
- Searching for dark matter with atomic clocks in spaceACES Workshop, University Zurich, Switzerland
- Searching for dark matter with atomic clocks in spaceUniversity of Tours, Tours, France
- Searching for dark matter with atomic clocks in spaceTAPIR, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA
- First-order relativistic hydrodynamics with quantum anomaliesArizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
- Testing gravity on acceleratorsUniversity of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Testing gravity on acceleratorsNorthwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
2016
- Testing gravity on acceleratorsStony Brook University, NY, USA
- Testing gravity on acceleratorsSeventh Meeting on CPT and Lorentz Symmetry, Bloomington, Indiana, June 20-24
- Topological defects and anomalous transportQCD Workshop on Chirality, Vorticity and Magnetic Field in HIC. UCLA, CA, USA
2015
- Testing gravity on accelerators2015 Midwest Relativity Meeting, Northwestern University, IL, USA
- Collective flow in high-multiplicity proton-proton collisionsQuark Matter 2015, Kobe, Japan
- Testing gravity on acceleratorsUniversity of Illinois at Chicago
- Collective flow in high-multiplicity proton-proton collisionsArgonne National Laboratory, IL, USA
- QCD string interactions and implications for high energy collisionsSimons Center for Geometry and Physics, NY, USA
- Testing gravity on acceleratorsKSM2015, Germany, FIAS, Frankfurt, Germany
- Gravity waves generated by sounds from cosmological phase transitionsDESY-Hamburg, Germany
- Topological defects and anomalous transportSchladming, Austria
- Gravity waves generated by sounds from cosmological phase transitionsBrookhaven National Laboratory, NY, USA
- Chiral Superfluidity in Quark MatterUIC Chicago, USA
2014
- Chiral Superfluidity for Strong InteractionsMIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
- QCD strings and collective phenomena in AA, pA and pp collisionsMcGill University, Montreal, Canada
- Chiral Superfluidity in Quark MatterMcGill University, Montreal, Canada
- Chiral Superfluidity in Quark MatterITP-Utrecht, Netherlands
- Chiral Superfluidity in Quark MatterIFT-Madrid, Spain
- Interaction of QCD strings and collective phenomenaBrookhaven National Laboratory, NY, USA
- Chiral Superfluidity for QCDQuarks 2014, Suzdal, Russia
- Two stories about strings in strong interactionsDESY, Hamburg, Germany
- Two stories about strings in strong interactionsUniversity of Regensburg, Germany
- Chiral superfluidity in Quantum ChromodynamicsQuark Matter 2014, Darmstadt, Germany
- Applications of the chiral superfluidity to QCDSimons Center for Geometry and Physics, Stony Brook, USA
2013
- QCD in strong magnetic fieldsPIF 2013, Hamburg, Germany
- Chiral superfluidity of the quark-gluon plasmaPIF 2013, Hamburg, Germany
2012
- Quark-gluon plasma in strong magnetic fieldsDESY Theory Colloquium, Hamburg, Germany
- New approach to the local strong parity violation in the quark-gluon plasmaFIAS, Frankfurt, Germany
- Holography and chiral superfluidity for the quark-gluon plasmaPrinceton University, NJ, U.S.A.
- Chiral superfluidity and the local strong parity violationUniversity of Minnesota, MN, U.S.A.
- Holography and chiral superfluidity for the quark-gluon plasmaStony Brook University, NY, U.S.A.
- Holography and chiral superfluidity for the quark-gluon plasmaBrookhaven National Laboratory, NY, U.S.A.
- Magnetic catalysis in an expanding quark-gluon plasma and on the latticeDIAS, Dublin, Ireland
- Topological and electromagnetic properties of the QCD vacuum: a lattice studyUniversity of Giessen, Germany
- New approach to the local strong parity violation in the quark-gluon plasmaTUM, Munich, Germany
- Local parity violation in the quark-gluon plasma and its holographic descriptionMPI Munich, Germany
- New approach to the local strong parity violation in the quark-gluon plasmaUniversität Regensburg
- Topological and magnetic properties of the QCD vacuum probed by overlap fermionsConfinement 2012, Munich, Germany
- Chiral superfluidity of the quark-gluon plasmaConfinement 2012, Munich, Germany
- Chiral Superfluidity for the Heavy-Ion CollisionsDESY Theory Workshop, Hamburg
- Chiral superfluidity of the quark-gluon plasmaSEWM 2012, Swansea University, UK
- Chiral superfluidity of the quark-gluon plasmaRETUNE 2012, Uni Heidelberg
- Quark-Gluon Plasma: from Superstrings to SupercomputersSFB Block Meeting, Uni Hamburg
2011
- Local CP-violation in quark-gluon plasma: a holographic studyDESY Theory Workshop, Hamburg
- Local CP-violation in quark-gluon plasma: a lattice studyDESY Theory Workshop, Hamburg
- Conductivity and Superconductivity of the vacuum of Lattice Gluodynamics at Strong Magnetic FieldsMSU, Moscow co-author
- Quark-gluon plasma at Strong Magnetic FieldsMSU, Moscow co-author
- Quark-gluon plasma in external fields: numerical and analytical resultsITEP, Moscow
- New applications of the AdS/CFT to the physics of Quark-Gluon PlasmaUniversity Ghent
- Fluid/gravity model for the chiral magnetic effectICTP, Trieste
- Strong magnetic fields in lattice gluodynamicsSt. Goar, Germany co-author
- Fluid/gravity model for the Chiral Magnetic EffectHumboldt-Universität, Berlin
2010
- CME and chiral symmetry breaking in SU(3) quenched lattice gauge theoryUniversität Regensburg
- Holographic Chiral Magnetic EffectUniversität Regensburg
- Properties of the QCD Vacuum Induced by Strong Magnetic Field: a Lattice StudyDESY, Hamburg
- Strong magnetic fields in lattice QCDDubna, Russia co-author
- Insulator-conductor transition induced by magnetic field in lattice gauge theoryConfinement 2010, Madrid co-author
- Quark mass dependence of Chiral Magnetic Effect in SU(2) gluodynamicsConfinement 2010, Madrid
- The Chiral Magnetic Effect and symmetry breaking in SU(3) quenched theoryLattice 2010, Villasimius, Italy
- Gluodynamics in the strong magnetic fieldExtreme QCD 2010, Bad Honnef, Germany co-author
- Magnetic Field Induced Conductivity of the Vacuum of GluodynamicsBNL Brookhaven co-author
2009
- Black hole creation in AdS₃Steklov Mathematical Institute, Moscow
- Black hole creation in three-dimensional anti de Sitter spaceLomonosov Conference, MSU, Moscow
2006
2004
- Design of computer-process interfaces for PCMoscow State Technological University "Stankin"
No talks match your search.
Pedagogical lectures & seminars
Since 2010.
- Dark matter searches with atomic clocks and atom interferometersNASA JPL, Section 332J
- Low frequency gravitational wave searches with Doppler satellite trackingUniversity of Illinois at Chicago
- Gravitational wave reportUniversity of Illinois at Chicago
- Testing antimatter gravityCFEL, DESY-Hamburg, Germany
- Collective interaction of QCD stringsStony Brook University, NY
- Chiral superfluidity in QCD (based on paper 1, paper 2)Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, NY
- Holographic fluids and superfluidsSimons Center for Geometry and Physics, NY
- Holographic inverse magnetic catalysisStony Brook University, NY
- Copenhagen vacuum structure and fermionsStony Brook University, NY
- Testing Planck-Scale Gravity at DESYDESY, Hamburg
- Monopoles and Domain WallsDESY, Hamburg
- Lax representation and monodromy matrixDESY, Hamburg
- Critical exponents: QFT methods for Statistical PhysicsDESY, Hamburg
- Axial anomalyDESY, Hamburg
- Dual superconductivity as the nature of quark confinementDESY, Hamburg
- Convex and non-convex potentialsDESY, Hamburg
- Holographic ThermalizationDESY, Hamburg
- Brief overview of the Lattice QCD topics and techniquesDESY, Hamburg
- GRID computing for the Lattice QCDITEP Lattice Group, Moscow
Additional materials & links
Odds and ends from over the years.
Get a Green Card with a PhD …and without a lawyer
Our farm in Paraguay Frutas del Paraguay
Our aged tequila House of Rare
Intro to Assembler An informal introduction to the Assembler programming language (in Russian)
World Happiness Index My own version of the index (on Substack)
CV of my failures The anti-CV (PDF)