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Main Author: Dakurah, Sixtus
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.12990
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author Dakurah, Sixtus
author_facet Dakurah, Sixtus
contents This work introduces a novel framework for testing topological variability in weighted networks by combining Hodge decomposition with Wasserstein variance minimization. Traditional approaches that analyze raw edge weights are susceptible to noise driven perturbations, limiting their ability to detect meaningful structural differences between network populations. Network signals are decomposed into various components using combinatorial Hodge theory, then topological disparity is quantified via the 2-Wasserstein distance between persistence diagrams. The test statistic measures variance reduction when comparing within group to between group dispersions in the Wasserstein space. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed method suppresses small random perturbations while maintaining sensitivity to genuine topological differences, particularly when applied to Hodge decomposed flows rather than raw edge weights. The framework is applied to functional brain networks from the Multimodal Treatment of ADHD dataset, comparing cannabis users and non-users
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_12990
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Brain Networks Flow-Topology via Variance Minimization in the Wasserstein Space
Dakurah, Sixtus
Quantitative Methods
This work introduces a novel framework for testing topological variability in weighted networks by combining Hodge decomposition with Wasserstein variance minimization. Traditional approaches that analyze raw edge weights are susceptible to noise driven perturbations, limiting their ability to detect meaningful structural differences between network populations. Network signals are decomposed into various components using combinatorial Hodge theory, then topological disparity is quantified via the 2-Wasserstein distance between persistence diagrams. The test statistic measures variance reduction when comparing within group to between group dispersions in the Wasserstein space. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed method suppresses small random perturbations while maintaining sensitivity to genuine topological differences, particularly when applied to Hodge decomposed flows rather than raw edge weights. The framework is applied to functional brain networks from the Multimodal Treatment of ADHD dataset, comparing cannabis users and non-users
title Brain Networks Flow-Topology via Variance Minimization in the Wasserstein Space
topic Quantitative Methods
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.12990