arXiv subjects

O. V. Billoni

Publications and source records attributed to O. V. Billoni.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Ranking football teams via the higher-order decomposition of performance networks

We propose a unified methodological framework to quantify team performance in elite football by combining event-level performance metrics, higher-order network representations, and algebraic ranking methods. Using data from the 2017--2018 season of the five major European leagues, we construct metric-specific weighted graphs in which teams are connected through relative performance indicators. These graphs are analyzed via Hodge decomposition, and the gradient component is used to derive metric-based team ratings. The resulting rankings are systematically compared with the true league standings using Pearson and Kendall correlation measures, revealing strong metric- and league-dependent effects. Furthermore, by analyzing the ratio between solenoidal and total flow energies, we show that local cyclic dynamics structurally limit the gradient component's capacity to reconstruct the ranking. This topological inconsistency acts as a structural fingerprint of each league's ``competition style'' successfully mapping the studied systems into distinct regimes: highly hierarchical structures (England and Italy), tactical parity driven by generalized loops (Germany), and pockets of localized chaos (France and Spain). Lastly, we introduce a composite rating obtained as a parsimonious linear combination of metric-based ratings, optimized separately for each league. This composite approach significantly improves predictive power and allows the relative importance of different performance indicators to be quantified in a league-specific manner. Our results demonstrate how higher-order network methods provide a flexible and interpretable framework to uncover latent performance structures in football, offering a complementary perspective to outcome-based rankings and a general approach applicable to other oppositional sports.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2025

Emergent Complexity in the Decision-Making Process of Chess Players

In this article, we study the decision-making process of chess players by using a chess engine to evaluate the moves across different pools of games. We quantified the decisiveness of each move during the games using a metric derived from the engine's evaluation of the positions. We then performed a comparative analysis across players of varying competitive levels. Firstly, we observed that players face a wide spectrum of the decisiveness metric, evidencing the complexity of the process. By examining groups of winning and losing players, we found evidence where a decrease in complexity may be associated with a drop in players' performance levels. Secondly, we observed that players' accuracy increases in positions with high values of the decisiveness metric regardless of competitive level. Complementing this information with a null model where players make completely random legal moves allowed us to characterize the decision-making process under the simple strategy of making moves that minimize the decisiveness metric. Finally, based on this idea, we proposed a simple model that approximately replicates the global emergent properties of the system.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2023

Probabilistic model for Padel games dynamics

This study applies complexity sciences to analyze the game of Padel. Data from 18 professional matches were collected, and the probability distributions of the total number of shots and the probability distribution of rallies' duration were analyzed. Based on these empirical observations and previous reports, a probabilistic model with two parameters was proposed to describe the game dynamics. One of them controls the probability of making a shot and the other probability of doing it offensively. The model also considers the offensive advantage of the team serving the ball. Using this model, an analytical expression for the probability distribution of the total number of shots was obtained and fit to the data. The results reveal that the complex dynamics of Padel can be effectively approximated as a stochastic process governed by simple probabilistic rules.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2022

Complexity emerges in measures of the marking dynamics in football games

In this article, we study the dynamics of marking in football matches. To do this, we surveyed and analyzed a database containing the trajectories of players from both teams on the field of play during three professional games. We describe the dynamics through the construction of temporal bipartite networks of proximity. Based on the introduced concept of proximity, the nodes are the players, and the links are defined between opponents that are close enough to each other at a given moment. By studying the evolution of the heterogeneity parameter of the networks during the game, we characterized a scaling law for the average shape of the fluctuations, unveiling the emergence of complexity in the system. Moreover, we proposed a simple model to simulate the players' motion in the field from where we obtained the evolution of a synthetic proximity network. We show that the model captures with a remarkable agreement the complexity of the empirical case, hence it proves to be helpful to elucidate the underlying mechanisms responsible for the observed phenomena.

physics.data-an↗

arXiv2022

Simple mechanism rules the dynamics of volleyball

In volleyball games, we define a rally as the succession of events observed since the ball is served until one of the two teams on the court scores the point. In this process, athletes evolve in response to physical and information constraints, spanning several spatiotemporal scales and interplaying co-adaptively with the environment. Aiming to study the emergence of complexity in this system, we carried out a study focused on three steps: data collection, data analysis, and modeling. First, we collected data from 20 high-level professional volleyball games. Then we conducted a data-driven analysis from where we identified fundamental insights that we used to define a parsimonious stochastic model for the dynamics of the game. On these bases, we show that it is possible to give a closed-form expression for the probability that the players perform n hits in a rally using only two stochastic variables. Our results fully agree with the empirical observations and represent a new advance in the comprehension of team-sports competition complexity and dynamics.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2021

Stochastic model for football's collective dynamics

In this paper, we study collective interaction dynamics emerging in the game of football-soccer. To do so, we surveyed a database containing body-sensors traces measured during three professional football matches, where we observed statistical patterns that we used to propose a stochastic model for the players' motion in the field. The model, which is based on linear interactions, captures in good approximation the spatiotemporal dynamics of a football team. Our theoretical framework, therefore, becomes an effective analytical tool to uncover the underlying cooperative mechanisms behind the complexity of football plays. Moreover, we showed that it can provide handy theoretical support for coaches to evaluate teams' and players' performances in both training sessions and competitive scenarios.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2020

Modeling ball possession dynamics in the game of football

In this paper, we study interaction dynamics in the game of football-soccer in the context of ball possession intervals. To do so, we analyze a database comprising one season of the five major football leagues of Europe. Using this input, we developed a stochastic model based on three agents: two teammates and one defender. Despite its simplicity, the model is able to capture, in good approximation, the statistical behavior of possession times, pass lengths, and number of passes performed. In the last section, we show that the model's dynamics can be mapped into a Wiener process with drift and an absorbing barrier.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2020

A model for phonetic changes driven by social interactions

We propose a stochastic model to study phonetic changes as an evolutionary process driven by social interactions between two groups of individuals with different phonological systems. Particularly, we focus on the changes in the place of articulation, inspired by the drift /\textphi/$\rightarrow$/h/ observed in some words of Latin root in the Castilian language. In the model, each agent is characterized by a variable of three states, representing the place of articulation used during speech production. In this frame, we propose stochastic rules of interactions among agents which lead to phonetic imitation and consequently to changes in the articulation place. Based on this, we mathematically formalize the model as a problem of population dynamics, derive the equations of evolution in the mean field approximation, and study the emergence of three non--trivial global states, which can be linked to the pattern of phonetic changes observed in the language of Castile and in other Romance languages.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2014

Anisotropy-based mechanism for zigzag striped patterns in magnetic thin films

In this work we studied a two dimensional ferromagnetic system using Monte Carlo simulations. Our model includes exchange and dipolar interactions, a cubic anisotropy term, and uniaxial out-of-plane and in-plane ones. According to the set of parameters chosen, the model including uniaxial out-of-plane anisotropy has a ground-state which consists of a canted state with stripes of opposite out-of-plane magnetization. When the cubic anisotropy is introduced zigzag patterns appear in the stripes at fields close to the remanence. An analysis of the anisotropy terms of the model shows that this configuration is related to specific values of the ratio between the cubic and the effective uniaxial anisotropy. The mechanism behind this effect is related to particular features of the anisotropy's energy landscape, since a global minima transition as a function of the applied field is required in the anisotropy terms. This new mechanism for zigzags formation could be present in monocrystal ferromagnetic thin films in a given range of thicknesses.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2010

A Scaling Hypothesis for Modulated Systems

We propose a scaling hypothesis for pattern-forming systems in which modulation of the order parameter results from the competition between a short-ranged interaction and a long-ranged interaction decaying with some power $α$ of the inverse distance. With L being a spatial length characterizing the modulated phase, all thermodynamic quantities are predicted to scale like some power of L. The scaling dimensions with respect to L only depend on the dimensionality of the system d and the exponent α. Scaling predictions are in agreement with experiments on ultra-thin ferromagnetic films and computational results. Finally, our scaling hypothesis implies that, for some range of values α>d, Inverse-Symmetry-Breaking transitions may appear systematically in the considered class of frustrated systems.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2009

Emergent self-organized complex network topology out of stability constraints

Although most networks in nature exhibit complex topology the origins of such complexity remains unclear. We introduce a model of a growing network of interacting agents in which each new agent's membership to the network is determined by the agent's effect on the network's global stability. It is shown that out of this stability constraint, scale free networks emerges in a self organized manner, offering an explanation for the ubiquity of complex topological properties observed in biological networks.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗