FCTUC Scientist Explores New Approaches to the Analysis of Oscillatory Systems

Ricardo Gafeira

© DR

A scientific publication co-authored by Ricardo Gafeira, Director of the Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory (OGA) at the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) and researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences, offers a comprehensive review of analysis tools for systems exhibiting oscillatory and periodic patterns.

Published in the journal Nature Reviews Methods Primers, the article highlights the growing need for sophisticated analytical tools that integrate advanced theories and, more recently, artificial intelligence technologies to enable more accurate and effective analysis of these phenomena.

According to the astrophysicist, such oscillatory signals are observed across multiple fields, including seismology, engineering, applied mathematics, as well as in the biological, social, economic, physical, and computational sciences.

“With the increasing availability of large volumes of high-complexity data, the use of high-performance computing and efficient data processing techniques becomes imperative. The application of these methods—grounded in solid theoretical foundations and broadly applicable to a variety of oscillatory systems—represents a unique opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration, which is essential to accelerating future advancements in this area,”
notes Ricardo Gafeira, co-author of the article.

The publication offers detailed insights into the application and limitations of various analytical tools, presented from a multidisciplinary perspective. It considers scientific goals and the specific characteristics of the signals—such as noise levels, non-linearities, temporal variability, wavelength, and cadence.“Aimed at a broad, multidisciplinary audience, this publication is intended as a key reference for the selection and proper use of analytical tools for oscillatory systems. It is accompanied by an open-access repository, which offers a range of user-friendly analytical tools accessible to all users,”
he adds.

The scientific article, titled “Wave analysis tools”, is available here.