Directed Graph Clustering Algorithms, Topology, and Weak Links

In this article, a general approach for directed graph clustering and two new density-based clustering objectives are presented. First, using an equivalence between the clustering objective functions and a trace maximization expression, the directed graph clustering objectives are converted into the corresponding weighted kernel
$k$
-means problems. Then, a nonspectral algorithm, which covers both the direction and weight information of the directed graphs, is thus proposed. Next, with Rayleigh’s quotient, the upper and lower bounds of clustering objectives are obtained. After that, we introduce a new definition of weak links to characterize the effectiveness of clustering. Finally, illustrative examples are given to demonstrate effectiveness of the results. This article provides a glance at the potential connection between density-based and pattern-based clustering. Compared with other approaches for directed graph clustering, the method proposed in this article naturally avoids the loss of the nonsymmetric edge data because there is no need for any additional symmetrization.