Spectral Clustering for Discrete Distributions

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wang, Zixiao, Qiao, Dong, Fan, Jicong
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Wang, Zixiao
Qiao, Dong
Fan, Jicong
author_facet Wang, Zixiao
Qiao, Dong
Fan, Jicong
contents The discrete distribution is often used to describe complex instances in machine learning, such as images, sequences, and documents. Traditionally, clustering of discrete distributions (D2C) has been approached using Wasserstein barycenter methods. These methods operate under the assumption that clusters can be well-represented by barycenters, which is seldom true in many real-world applications. Additionally, these methods are not scalable for large datasets due to the high computational cost of calculating Wasserstein barycenters. In this work, we explore the feasibility of using spectral clustering combined with distribution affinity measures (e.g., maximum mean discrepancy and Wasserstein distance) to cluster discrete distributions. We demonstrate that these methods can be more accurate and efficient than barycenter methods. To further enhance scalability, we propose using linear optimal transport to construct affinity matrices efficiently for large datasets. We provide theoretical guarantees for the success of our methods in clustering distributions. Experiments on both synthetic and real data show that our methods outperform existing baselines.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_13913
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Spectral Clustering for Discrete Distributions
Wang, Zixiao
Qiao, Dong
Fan, Jicong
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
The discrete distribution is often used to describe complex instances in machine learning, such as images, sequences, and documents. Traditionally, clustering of discrete distributions (D2C) has been approached using Wasserstein barycenter methods. These methods operate under the assumption that clusters can be well-represented by barycenters, which is seldom true in many real-world applications. Additionally, these methods are not scalable for large datasets due to the high computational cost of calculating Wasserstein barycenters. In this work, we explore the feasibility of using spectral clustering combined with distribution affinity measures (e.g., maximum mean discrepancy and Wasserstein distance) to cluster discrete distributions. We demonstrate that these methods can be more accurate and efficient than barycenter methods. To further enhance scalability, we propose using linear optimal transport to construct affinity matrices efficiently for large datasets. We provide theoretical guarantees for the success of our methods in clustering distributions. Experiments on both synthetic and real data show that our methods outperform existing baselines.
title Spectral Clustering for Discrete Distributions
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.13913