Clustering datasets by complex networks analysis

Abstract

This paper proposes a method based on complex networks analysis, devised to perform clustering on multidimensional datasets. In particular, the method maps the elements of the dataset in hand to a weighted network according to the similarity that holds among data. Network weights are computed by transforming the Euclidean distances measured between data according to a Gaussian model. Notably, this model depends on a parameter that controls the shape of the actual functions. Running the Gaussian transformation with different values of the parameter allows to perform multiresolution analysis, which gives important information about the number of clusters expected to be optimal or suboptimal. Solutions obtained running the proposed method on simple synthetic datasets allowed to identify a recurrent pattern, which has been found in more complex, synthetic and real, datasets.