How can we find a good graph clustering of a real-world network, that allows insight into its underlying structure and also potential functions? In this paper, we introduce a new graph clustering algorithm Dcut from a density point of view. The basic idea is to envision the graph clustering as a density-cut problem, such that the vertices in the same cluster are densely connected and the vertices between clusters are sparsely connected. To identify meaningful clusters (communities) in a graph, a density-connected tree is first constructed in a local fashion. Owing to the density-connected tree, Dcut allows partitioning a graph into multiple densely tight-knit clusters directly. We demonstrate that our method has several attractive benefits: (a) Dcut provides an intuitive criterion to evaluate the goodness of a graph clustering in a more natural and precise way; (b) Built upon the density-connected tree, Dcut allows identifying the meaningful graph clusters of densely connected vertices efficiently; (c) The density-connected tree provides a connectivity map of vertices in a graph from a local density perspective. We systematically evaluate our new clustering approach on synthetic as well as real data to demonstrate its good performance.
A cluster algorithm for graphs called the (MCL algorithm) is introduced. The algorithm provides basically an interface to an algebraic process defined on stochastic matrices, called the MCL process. The graphs may be both weighted (with nonnegative weight) and directed. Let @math be such a graph. The MCL algorithm simulates flow in @math by first identifying @math in a canonical way with a Markov graph @math . Flow is then alternatingly expanded and contracted, leading to a row of Markov Graphs @math . Flow expansion corresponds with taking the @math power of a stochastic matrix, where @math . Flow contraction corresponds with a parametrized operator @math , @math , which maps the set of (column) stochastic matrices onto itself. The image @math is obtained by raising each entry in @math to the @math power and rescaling each column to have sum @math again. The heuristic underlying this approach is the expectation that flow between dense regions which are sparsely connected will evaporate. The invariant limits of the process are easily derived and in practice the process converges very fast to such a limit, the structure of which has a generic interpretation as an overlapping clustering of the graph @math . Overlap is limited to cases where the input graph has a symmetric structure inducing it. The contraction and expansion parameters of the MCL process influence the granularity of the output. The algorithm is space and time efficient and lends itself to drastic scaling. This report describes the MCL algorithm and process, convergence towards equilibrium states, interpretation of the states as clusterings, and implementation and scalability. The algorithm is introduced by first considering several related proposals towards graph clustering, of both combinatorial and probabilistic nature.