Carlos Monago
ES

Hello, I'm

Carlos Monago.

Statistical physics · Dynamic coarse-graining

What happens to the details we leave out?

Currently, I’m a PhD candidate at UNED under Prof. Español’s supervision. I work on coarse-graining and parameter estimation: finding smaller descriptions of complex systems that still get the physics right, while developing tools to fit those models. Proteins, colloids, and fluids have led me to the same difficult question: what can we leave out, and what comes back?

Explore the research Read the publications
BPTI protein, seen at two resolutionsA two-dimensional projection of the 4PTI BPTI atomic structure is compared with 28 coarse-grained beads positioned from clusters of the same atoms. Faint links join a few regions that are close in three dimensions. Use the slider below to compare the descriptions. The bead mapping and links are illustrative, not the exact model in the paper.

Slide from atoms to blobs.

Based on the 4PTI structure used in our BPTI work; the beads follow its mass distribution, while the mapping and links remain illustrative.

Research

From microscopic trajectories to mesoscopic dynamics

I study how detailed molecular systems can be replaced by stochastic models that preserve the physics that matters. Eliminated degrees of freedom reappear as effective forces, noise, friction, mobility, memory, and dissipation. My aim is to infer those contributions directly from microscopic simulation.

  1. Published · 2026Self-averaging parameter estimation for coarse-grained stochastic modelsAn inference framework that treats parameter estimation as a dynamical process, recovering both effective forces and state-dependent transport coefficients directly from microscopic trajectories.self-averaging · parameter inference · observable matching
  2. Published · 2025Internal friction in a coarse-grained protein modelA bead model of a globular protein showing that solvent drag alone cannot reproduce microscopic velocity correlations — internal friction from eliminated atomic degrees of freedom is essential.protein dynamics · internal friction · coarse-graining
  3. Manuscript in preparationHydrodynamic couplings between sphere-like colloidsA two-colloid model for resolving distance-dependent pair friction and the coupling between translational and rotational motion in a simple fluid.colloids · hydrodynamic interactions · pair friction
  4. Manuscript in preparationMaterial retention in dynamically coarse-grained fluid particlesAn investigation of what microscopic material a moving coarse-grained fluid particle retains, and where barycentric advection ceases to describe that motion faithfully.dynamic coarse-graining · fluid particles · material retention

Publications

Peer-reviewed work

2026 · The Journal of Chemical Physics

Self-averaging parameter estimation for coarse-grained particle models

Carlos Monago, J. A. de la Torre, Pep Español

A dynamical parameter-estimation method for recovering effective interactions and state-dependent transport coefficients from microscopic averages and time correlations.

Journal articleOpen manuscript

2025 · The Journal of Chemical Physics

Unraveling internal friction in a coarse-grained protein model

Carlos Monago, J. A. de la Torre, Rafael Delgado-Buscalioni, Pep Español

A 28-blob model of BPTI showing that solvent drag alone does not reproduce microscopic velocity correlations: friction generated by eliminated internal degrees of freedom is also required.

Journal articleOpen manuscript

Full publication details →

Beyond physics

The other things I think about

I want this site to hold more than my papers. I’m making room for essays on philosophy, literature, culture, and opinion, with photography to follow when I have a first collection to share.

Visit the writing notebook →