The minimum bisection in the planted bisection model

In the planted bisection model a random graph $G(n,p_+,p_- )$ with $n$ vertices is created by partitioning the vertices randomly into two classes of equal size (up to $\pm1$). Any two vertices that belong to the same class are linked by an edge with probability $p_+$ and any two that belong to different classes with probability $p_- <p_+$ independently. The planted bisection model has been used extensively to benchmark graph partitioning algorithms. If $p_{\pm} =2d_{\pm} /n$ for numbers $0\leq d_- <d_+$ that remain fixed as $n\to\infty$, then w.h.p. the ``planted'' bisection (the one used to construct the graph) will not be a minimum bisection. In this paper we derive an asymptotic formula for the minimum bisection width under the assumption that $d_+ -d_- >c\sqrt{d_+ \ln d_+ }$ for a certain constant $c>0$

Linear Programming and Community Detection

The problem of community detection with two equal-sized communities is closely related to the minimum graph bisection problem over certain random graph models. In the stochastic block model distribution over networks with community structure, a well-known semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxation of the minimum bisection problem recovers the underlying communities whenever possible. Motivated by their superior scalability, we study the theoretical performance of linear programming (LP) relaxations of the minimum bisection problem for the same random models. We show that unlike the SDP relaxation that undergoes a phase transition in the logarithmic average-degree regime, the LP relaxation exhibits a transition from recovery to non-recovery in the linear average-degree regime. We show that in the logarithmic average-degree regime, the LP relaxation fails in recovering the planted bisection with high probability.Comment: 35 pages, 3 figure

New Abilities and Limitations of Spectral Graph Bisection

Spectral based heuristics belong to well-known commonly used methods which determines provably minimal graph bisection or outputs "fail" when the optimality cannot be certified. In this paper we focus on Boppana\u27s algorithm which belongs to one of the most prominent methods of this type. It is well known that the algorithm works well in the random planted bisection model - the standard class of graphs for analysis minimum bisection and relevant problems. In 2001 Feige and Kilian posed the question if Boppana\u27s algorithm works well in the semirandom model by Blum and Spencer. In our paper we answer this question affirmatively. We show also that the algorithm achieves similar performance on graph classes which extend the semirandom model. Since the behavior of Boppana\u27s algorithm on the semirandom graphs remained unknown, Feige and Kilian proposed a new semidefinite programming (SDP) based approach and proved that it works on this model. The relationship between the performance of the SDP based algorithm and Boppana\u27s approach was left as an open problem. In this paper we solve the problem in a complete way by proving that the bisection algorithm of Feige and Kilian provides exactly the same results as Boppana\u27s algorithm. As a consequence we get that Boppana\u27s algorithm achieves the optimal threshold for exact cluster recovery in the stochastic block model. On the other hand we prove some limitations of Boppana\u27s approach: we show that if the density difference on the parameters of the planted bisection model is too small then the algorithm fails with high probability in the model

Consistency Thresholds for the Planted Bisection Model

The planted bisection model is a random graph model in which the nodes are divided into two equal-sized communities and then edges are added randomly in a way that depends on the community membership. We establish necessary and sufficient conditions for the asymptotic recoverability of the planted bisection in this model. When the bisection is asymptotically recoverable, we give an efficient algorithm that successfully recovers it. We also show that the planted bisection is recoverable asymptotically if and only if with high probability every node belongs to the same community as the majority of its neighbors. Our algorithm for finding the planted bisection runs in time almost linear in the number of edges. It has three stages: spectral clustering to compute an initial guess, a "replica" stage to get almost every vertex correct, and then some simple local moves to finish the job. An independent work by Abbe, Bandeira, and Hall establishes similar (slightly weaker) results but only in the case of logarithmic average degree.Comment: latest version contains an erratum, addressing an error pointed out by Jan van Waai

A note on Probably Certifiably Correct algorithms

Many optimization problems of interest are known to be intractable, and while there are often heuristics that are known to work on typical instances, it is usually not easy to determine a posteriori whether the optimal solution was found. In this short note, we discuss algorithms that not only solve the problem on typical instances, but also provide a posteriori certificates of optimality, probably certifiably correct (PCC) algorithms. As an illustrative example, we present a fast PCC algorithm for minimum bisection under the stochastic block model and briefly discuss other examples

Community Detection in Hypergraphs, Spiked Tensor Models, and Sum-of-Squares

We study the problem of community detection in hypergraphs under a stochastic block model. Similarly to how the stochastic block model in graphs suggests studying spiked random matrices, our model motivates investigating statistical and computational limits of exact recovery in a certain spiked tensor model. In contrast with the matrix case, the spiked model naturally arising from community detection in hypergraphs is different from the one arising in the so-called tensor Principal Component Analysis model. We investigate the effectiveness of algorithms in the Sum-of-Squares hierarchy on these models. Interestingly, our results suggest that these two apparently similar models exhibit significantly different computational to statistical gaps.Comment: In proceedings of 2017 International Conference on Sampling Theory and Applications (SampTA

Improved Cheeger's Inequality: Analysis of Spectral Partitioning Algorithms through Higher Order Spectral Gap

Let \phi(G) be the minimum conductance of an undirected graph G, and let 0=\lambda_1 <= \lambda_2 <=... <= \lambda_n <= 2 be the eigenvalues of the normalized Laplacian matrix of G. We prove that for any graph G and any k >= 2, \phi(G) = O(k) \lambda_2 / \sqrt{\lambda_k}, and this performance guarantee is achieved by the spectral partitioning algorithm. This improves Cheeger's inequality, and the bound is optimal up to a constant factor for any k. Our result shows that the spectral partitioning algorithm is a constant factor approximation algorithm for finding a sparse cut if \lambda_k$ is a constant for some constant k. This provides some theoretical justification to its empirical performance in image segmentation and clustering problems. We extend the analysis to other graph partitioning problems, including multi-way partition, balanced separator, and maximum cut