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General Interests

My interests have evolved a bit over the time I've been in graduate school. While I'm always fascinated by theoretical physics, I also like the computational science a whole lot. In particular my main interest is modeling of all sorts of scenarios by computer simulations, trying to draw conclusions and figure out connections between apparently unrelated concepts.



Regional Climate Models

We are using the regional climate model RegCM to study historical and future climate patterns in the area surrounding Guatemala and Mesoamerica. The main motivation is the imminent effects that global climate change is having around the world. Global warming is studied using global climate models. However, these models don't have enough resolution to study the details of small regions like our country.

The main objective is to provide quantitative information that could be used in decision making policies. Due to the complexity of its terrain, Guatemala is one of the most affected countries due to global warming. It is expected that in the coming years we will witness an increase in the strength and variation of rain and heat waves. It is our hope that we can contribute to predict where and when these extreme events can take place and thus plan accordingly to reduce damage and preserve human life.

Microscopic Traffic Models

This is a topic in which I've been interested since very recently. It all started as an attempt to answer the question: What is the effect on traffic circulation that those drivers that block the intersection have after their traffic light has turned red? This problem is very common in Guatemala city. I started a simulation to quantify this effect. So far I have some preliminary results.

I wrote a post in Nómada about it. You can find it here.

Here is a video showing the behavior of careful and aggressive drivers computed with the microscopic simulation that I wrote.

Old research in Numerical Relativity

Last modified: Sun Dec 01:22:04 UTC 2017 by enrique