Juan Gancio

PhD Candidate @ Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · juan.gancio@upc.edu

Physics, Complex Systems & Data Analysis · Now: Capturing spatial correlations by ordinal analysis in real world systems.


About

I have both a Bachelor's and a Master's degrees in physics from Universidad de la República (UdelaR - Uruguay), and now I'm a PhD candidate in Computational and Applied Physics, at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC - Spain).

My main interests lie within Nonlinear Dynamics, Complex Systems and Complex Networks. During my Master's I have focused mainly in Spectral Graph Theory, studying the dependance of the eigenvalue spectra of complex networks with the network's size, in order to determine if they are extensive. I have also worked on other network-related topics, such as: synchronisation, community detection, resistance distance, and eigenvalue-eigenvector identity.

Now, for my PhD, I am working on applying ordinal patterns/permutation entropy methods in spatially extended systems. I use these methods to uncover spatial correlations, and study if they have a preferred direction (anisotropy), and what information can be extracted from it. I care that these methods can be also applied to real world systems, thus I have analysed, so far, medical (EEG) and climate data.

I have over 700 hours of teaching experience, including 120 hours of lectures. My duties as a teacher have included: problem set design, problem set sessions, and students' evaluation. I have taught introductory and intermediate level courses in Math and Physics, such as: Introductory Physics (classical mechanics), Electromagnetism, Modern Physics, Thermodynamics, and Differential Equations. I have filled in as a lecturer for an introductory physics course (Physics 101) in two editions. Now I teach introductory courses in experimental physics.


Experience

Pre-doctoral Researcher

Nonlinear Dynamics, Nonlinear Optics and Lasers, UPC, Spain

Spatial analysis of real world systems (using medical and climate data) by ordinal patterns / permutation entropy methods. I focus in studying if the spatial correlations have any preferred direction (anisotropy). I also teach introductory courses in experimental physics.

January 2023 - Present

Guest Researcher

Institut de Physique de Nice, Université Côte d'Azur, France

Ordinal analysis of the turn-on dynamics of multimode lasers.

October 2024

Guest Researcher

Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation, Germany

Analysis of the diffusion tensor of anisotropic excitable media.

June 2024 - September 2024

Research and teaching assistant

Universidad de la República, Uruguay

Numerical simulations and theoretical derivations for the Chaos, Networks and Synchronisation lines of research of the Nonlinear Dynamics group. Students' evaluation, problem sets design and problem sessions in introductory and intermediate physics and math courses. Lecturer in introductory physics.

April 2018 - December 2022

Education

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

PhD. in Computational and applied physics
January 2023 - Present

Universidad de la República

MSc. in Physics

Read my thesis (in spanish): Sincronización y extensividad de mapas acoplados en redes regulares.

August 2018 - July 2022

Universidad de la República

BSc. in Physics
March 2012 - August 2018

Publications

Journal articles:
  • Gancio, J., Masoller, C., & Tirabassi, G. (2024). Permutation entropy analysis of EEG signals for distinguishing eyes- open and eyes-closed brain states: Comparison of different approaches. Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science , 34(4), 043130. doi: 10.1063/5.0200029
  • Gancio, J., & Rubido, N. (2024). Lyapunov exponents and extensivity of strongly coupled chaotic maps in regular graphs. Chaos, Solitons Fractals, 178, 114392. doi: 10.1016/j.chaos.2023.114392
  • Gancio, J. , & Rubido, N. (2022). Critical parameters of the synchronisation’s stability for coupled maps in regular graphs. Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, 158, 112001. doi: 10.1016/j.chaos.2022.112001
  • Gutiérrez, C., Gancio, J., Cabeza, C., & Rubido, N. (2021). Finding the resistance distance and eigenvector centrality from the network’s eigenvalues. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 569, 125751. doi: 10.1016/10.1016/j.physa.2021.125751
Conference Proceedings:
  • Gancio, J., & Rubido, N. (2022). Community detection by resistance distance: Automation and benchmark testing. In R. M. Benito, C. Cherifi, H. Cherifi, E. Moro, L. M. Rocha, & M. Sales-Pardo (Eds.), Complex networks & their applications X (pp. 309–320). doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-93409-5_26

Conferences & Events

  • 44th Dynamics Days Europe (2024). Constructor University, Bremen, Germany
  • XI Complexitat Day (2024). Barcelona, Spain
  • 2nd Meeting of the Spanish chapter of the Complex System Society (2024). Barcelona, Spain
  • Winter Workshop on Complex Systems (2024). Vall D’en Bas, Catalunya, Spain
  • XXIV Congreso de Física Estadística – FisEs’23 (2023). Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
  • 43rd Dynamics Days Europe (2023). University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
  • XI GEFENOL Summer School on Statistical Physics of Complex Systems (2023). Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
  • X Complexitat Day (2023). Barcelona, Spain
  • 21st Conference on Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics and Nonlinear Physics – MEDYFINOL (2022). Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay
  • 42nd Dynamics Days Europe (2022). University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom.
  • 10th International Conference on Complex Networks and Their Applications (2021). Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
  • Statistical Physics of Complex Systems (2021). ICTP, Trieste, Italy
  • Hands On Research in Complex Systems School (2019). ICTP, Trieste, Italy
  • 5th Dynamics Days Latinamerica and the Caribbean (2018). Punta del Este, Uruguay

Legend: Talk, Poster, School, Workshop.


Ongoing Projects

EEG analysis of brain's dynamics

Collaborators: Giulio Tirabassi and Cristina Masoller

Ordinal analysis of EEG data in order to characterise the underlying dynamics, specifically to distinguish different states of the brain related to the eyes and motor imagery task.

Spatial analysis of climate data

Collaborators: Giulio Tirabassi, Cristina Masoller and Marcelo Barreiro

We use ordinal analysis to uncover spatial correlations and track their evolution in time. With this modern approach, and its unprecedented use in climate science, we have identified small scale differences between different models of global reanalysis, and trends in the spatial structure of the sea surface temperature.

Diffusion tensor characterisation in anisotropic excitable media

Collaborators: Inga Kottlarz and Ulrich Parlitz

By means of spatial permutation entropy (SPE) methods, we intend to estimate the fast diffusion direction in anisotropic 2D Aliev-Panfilov systems. We pretend to apply this methodology to real cardiac data, in order to find the orientation of the cardiac muscle fibers.