Dissimilarity-based hypothesis testing for community detection in heterogeneous networks

Autor: Xin-Jian Xu, Cheng Chen, J. F. F. Mendes
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Frontiers in Physics, Vol 11 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2296-424X
DOI: 10.3389/fphy.2023.1251319
Popis: Identifying communities within networks is a crucial and challenging problem with practical implications across various scientific fields. Existing methods often overlook the heterogeneous distribution of nodal degrees or require prior knowledge of the number of communities. To overcome these limitations, we propose an efficient hypothesis test for community detection by quantifying dissimilarities between graphs. Our approach centers around examining the dissimilarity between a given random graph and a null hypothesis which assumes a degree-corrected Erdös–Rényi type. To compare the dissimilarity, we introduce a measure that takes into account the distributions of vertex distances, clustering coefficients, and alpha-centrality. This measure is then utilized in our hypothesis test. To simultaneously uncover the number of communities and their corresponding structures, we develop a two-stage bipartitioning algorithm. This algorithm integrates seamlessly with our hypothesis test and enables the exploration of community organization within the network. Through experiments conducted on both synthetic and real networks, we demonstrate that our method outperforms state-of-the-art approaches in community detection.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals