Computation of Graphlet Orbits for Nodes and Edges in Sparse Graphs

Abstract

Graphlet analysis is a useful tool for describing local network topology around individual nodes or edges. A node or an edge can be described by a vector containing the counts of different kinds of graphlets (small induced subgraphs) in which it appears, or the "roles" (orbits) it has within these graphlets. We implemented an R package with functions for fast computation of such counts on sparse graphs. Instead of enumerating all induced graphlets, our algorithm is based on the derived relations between the counts, which decreases the time complexity by an order of magnitude in comparison with past approaches.