Research News

Study of the effects of rotation in hydrodynamic models of accretion on compact stars

David Martin Rodriguez defended his thesis supervised by Jordi José on July 7, 2023 at the Diagonal-Besòs Campus. Entitled "Hydrodynamic Models of Accretion onto Rotating Compact Stars", the thesis focuses on investigating the effects of rotation and the instabilities caused by it (meridional circulation and turbulence due to differential rotation) in type I X-ray eruptions ( or type I X-Ray Bursts), which take place on the surface of accreting neutron stars. In particular, the study focuses on the study of the observable properties (light curves, recurrence periods and nucleosynthesis) of these eruptions

PhD work about the application of the modeling of turbulent combustion in model aero-engine burners

Ambrus Both defended his thesis co-supervised by Daniel Mira and Oriol Lehmkuhl on June 29th at the Campus Nord of UPC. Titled "High-fidelity numerical simulations of reacting flows with tabulated chemistry," the thesis presents a framework of tabulated chemistry methods for the modeling of turbulent combustion and its application in model aero-engine burners.

Modeling Explosive Opinion Depolarization in Interdependent Topics

Researchers from the Department of Physics of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya have proposed an analytically tractable model of opinion dynamics to the study of the process of opinion depolarization

Doctoral thesis on non-linear optical effects in nanomaterials for a better understanding of light-matter interaction at the nanometric scale

Laura Rodríguez defended her thesis co-supervised by Crina Cojocaru and Jose Trull on June 19 at the North Campus. Entitled "Nonlinear optics at nanoscale: frequency conversion at interfaces", the thesis presents an experimental and theoretical analysis on the generation of second and third harmonics in nanolayers and nanostructures made of strategic materials for the world of nanophotonics

New strategies for the control of spacecraft propelled by solar radiation

The student Xun Duan supervised by professors Josep Masdemont, Gerard Gomez and Xiaokui Yue defends his PhD thesis on the study of the movement of a spaceship equipped with a solar sail around artificially created libration points and orbits.

Study of the movement and collective behavior of fish, robots and bees

Julia Múgica Gallart defended her thesis co-directed by Romualdo Pastor-Satorras and M. Carmen Miguel López on June 7, 2023 at the North Campus. Entitled "Collective Motion and Collective Decision-Making in Animal Groups: From Schooling Fish to Swarming Robots" the thesis focuses on empirically and theoretically investigating collective movement in shoals of fish, and collective decision-making in a swarm of robots emulating the selection of a new nesting site for bees.

Sergi Mas-Pujol defends his thesis on the management of imbalances between demand and air capacity using deep learning techniques

Sergi Mas-Pujol defended his thesis co-supervised by Dra. Esther Salamí and Dr. Enric Pastor on May 12, 2023 at the Baix Llobregat Campus. Entitled "Deep Learning techniques for Demand-Capacity Balancing", the thesis studies the use of artificial intelligence techniques to improve the detection of air regulations and how to smooth traffic in periods of high demand, proposing different models that have takes into account the needs of the main parties involved (network management entity and airlines) and a reinforcement learning model based on the use of images.