Analysis of network data based on probability neighborhood cliques

Abstract

The authors present the concept of a "probability neighborhood clique" intended to substantiate the idea of a "community", i.e. of a dense subregion within a (simple) network. For that purpose the notion of a clique is generalized in a probabilistic way. The probability neighborhoods employed for that purpose are indexed by one or two tuning parameters to bring out the "degree of denseness" respectively a hierarchy within that community. The paper, moreover, reviews other degree based concepts of communities and addresses algorithmic aspects. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.