We discuss a Cheeger constant as a mixture of the frustration index and the expansion rate, and prove the related Cheeger inequalities and higher order Cheeger inequalities for graph Laplacians with cyclic signatures, discrete magnetic Laplacians on finite graphs and magnetic Laplacians on closed Riemannian manifolds. In this process, we develop spectral clustering algorithms for partially oriented graphs and multi-way spectral clustering algorithms via metrics in lens spaces and complex projective spaces. As a byproduct, we give a unified viewpoint of Harary's structural balance theory of signed graphs and the gauge invariance of magnetic potentials.
In this paper, we study eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of $p$-Laplacians with Dirichlet boundary condition on graphs. We characterize the first eigenfunction (and the maximum eigenfunction for a bipartite graph) via the sign condition. By the uniqueness of the first eigenfunction of $p$-Laplacian, as $p\to 1,$ we identify the Cheeger constant of a symmetric graph with that of the quotient graph. By this approach, we calculate various Cheeger constants of spherically symmetric graphs.
We use the concept of intrinsic metrics to give a new definition for an isoperimetric constant of a graph. We use this novel isoperimetric constant to prove a Cheeger-type estimate for the bottom of the spectrum which is nontrivial even if the vertex degrees are unbounded.
The O(d) Synchronization problem consists of estimating a set of unknown orthogonal transformations O_i from noisy measurements of a subset of the pairwise ratios O_iO_j^{-1}. We formulate and prove a Cheeger-type inequality that relates a measure of how well it is possible to solve the O(d) synchronization problem with the spectra of an operator, the graph Connection Laplacian. We also show how this inequality provides a worst case performance guarantee for a spectral method to solve this problem.
We prove Cheeger inequalities for p-Laplacians on finite and infinite weighted graphs. Unlike in previous works, we do not impose boundedness of the vertex degree, nor do we restrict ourselves to the normalized Laplacian and, more generally, we do not impose any boundedness assumption on the geometry. This is achieved by a novel definition of the measure of the boundary which is using the idea of intrinsic metrics. For the non-normalized case, our bounds on the spectral gap of p-Laplacians are already significantly better for finite graphs and for infinite graphs they yield non-trivial bounds …
We consider the nonlinear graph $p$-Laplacian and its set of eigenvalues and associated eigenfunctions of this operator defined by a variational principle. We prove a nodal domain theorem for the graph $p$-Laplacian for any $p\geq 1$. While for $p>1$ the bounds on the number of weak and strong nodal domains are the same as for the linear graph Laplacian ($p=2$), the behavior changes for $p=1$. We show that the bounds are tight for $p\geq 1$ as the bounds are attained by the eigenfunctions of the graph $p$-Laplacian on two graphs. Finally, using the properties of the nodal domains, we prove a h…
This paper presents a detailed review of both theory and algorithms for the Cheeger cut based on the graph $1$-Laplacian. In virtue of the cell structure of the feasible set, we propose a cell descend (CD) framework for achieving the Cheeger cut. While plugging the relaxation to guarantee the decrease of the objective value in the feasible set, from which both the inverse power (IP) method and the steepest descent (SD) method can also be recovered, we are able to get two specified CD methods. Comparisons of all these methods are conducted on several typical graphs.
We develop a nonlinear spectral graph theory, in which the Laplace operator is replaced by the 1-Laplacian ?$Δ_1$. The eigenvalue problem is to solve a nonlinear system involving a set valued function. In the study, we investigate the structure of the solutions, the minimax characterization of eigenvalues, the multiplicity theorem, etc. The eigenvalues as well as the eigenvectors are computed for several elementary graphs. The graphic feature of eigenvalues are also studied. In particular, Cheeger's constant, which has only some upper and lower bounds in linear spectral theory, equals to the f…
For any subgraph of a graph, the Laplacian with Neumann boundary condition was introduced by Chung and Yau [CY94]. In this paper, motivated by the Riemannian case, we introduce the Cheeger constants for Neumann problems and prove corresponding Cheeger estimates for first nontrivial eigenvalues.
The graph Cheeger constant and Cheeger inequalities are generalized to the case of hypergraphs whose edges have the same cardinality. In particular, it is shown that the second largest eigenvalue of the generalized normalized Laplacian is bounded both above and below by the generalized Cheeger constant, and the corresponding eigenfunctions can be used to approximate the Cheeger cut.
The Cheeger inequality for undirected graphs, which relates the conductance of an undirected graph and the second smallest eigenvalue of its normalized Laplacian, is a cornerstone of spectral graph theory. The Cheeger inequality has been extended to directed graphs and hypergraphs using normalized Laplacians for those, that are no longer linear but piecewise linear transformations. In this paper, we introduce the notion of a submodular transformation $F:\{0,1\}^n \to \mathbb{R}^m$, which applies $m$ submodular functions to the $n$-dimensional input vector, and then introduce the notions of its…
We study the eigenvalues of the connection Laplacian on a graph with an orthogonal group or unitary group signature. We establish higher order Buser type inequalities, i.e., we provide upper bounds for eigenvalues in terms of Cheeger constants in the case of nonnegative Ricci curvature. In this process, we discuss the concepts of Cheeger type constants and a discrete Ricci curvature for connection Laplacians and study their properties systematically. The Cheeger constants are defined as mixtures of the expansion rate of the underlying graph and the frustration index of the signature. The discr…
We introduce the signless 1-Laplacians and the dual Cheeger constants on simplicial complexes. The connection of its spectrum to the combinatorial properties like independence number, chromatic number and dual Cheeger constant is investigated. Our estimates can be comparable to Hoffman's bounds in virtue of Laplacian on simplicial complexes. An interesting inequality relating multiplicity of the largest eigenvalue, independence number and chromatic number are provided, which could be regarded as a variant version of Lovasz sandwich theorem. Also, the behavior of the operator under the topologi…
We show how 'test' vector fields may be used to give lower bounds for the Cheeger constant of a Euclidean domain (or Riemannian manifold with boundary), and hence for the lowest eigenvalue of the Dirichlet Laplacian on the domain. Also, we show that a continuous version of the classical Max Flow Min Cut Theorem for networks implies that Cheeger's constant may be obtained precisely from such vector fields. Finally, we apply these ideas to reprove a known lower bound for Cheeger's constant in terms of the inradius of a plane domain.
Given a graph with a designated set of boundary vertices, we define a new notion of a Neumann Laplace operator on a graph using a reflection principle. We show that the first eigenvalue of this Neumann graph Laplacian satisfies a Cheeger inequality.
Cheeger's inequality states that a tightly connected subset can be extracted from a graph $G$ using an eigenvector of the normalized Laplacian associated with $G$. More specifically, we can compute a subset with conductance $O(\sqrt{ϕ_G})$, where $ϕ_G$ is the minimum conductance of a set in $G$. It has recently been shown that Cheeger's inequality can be extended to hypergraphs. However, as the normalized Laplacian of a hypergraph is no longer a matrix, we can only approximate to its eigenvectors; this causes a loss in the conductance of the obtained subset. To address this problem, we here co…
For graphs there exists a strong connection between spectral and combinatorial expansion properties. This is expressed, e.g., by the discrete Cheeger inequality, the lower bound of which states that $λ(G) \leq h(G)$, where $λ(G)$ is the second smallest eigenvalue of the Laplacian of a graph $G$ and $h(G)$ is the Cheeger constant measuring the edge expansion of $G$. We are interested in generalizations of expansion properties to finite simplicial complexes of higher dimension (or uniform hypergraphs). Whereas higher dimensional Laplacians were introduced already in 1945 by Eckmann, the generali…
We study the spectrum and heat kernel of the Hodge Laplacian with coefficients in a flat bundle on a closed manifold degenerating to a manifold with wedge singularities. Provided the Hodge Laplacians in the fibers of the wedge have an appropriate spectral gap, we give uniform constructions of the resolvent and heat kernel on suitable manifolds with corners. When the wedge manifold and the base of the wedge are odd dimensional, this is used to obtain a Cheeger-Müller theorem relating analytic torsion with the Reidemeister torsion of the natural compactification by a manifold with boundary.
We introduce a family of multi-way Cheeger-type constants $\{h_k^σ, k=1,2,\ldots, n\}$ on a signed graph $Γ=(G,σ)$ such that $h_k^σ=0$ if and only if $Γ$ has $k$ balanced connected components. These constants are switching invariant and bring together in a unified viewpoint a number of important graph-theoretical concepts, including the classical Cheeger constant, those measures of bipartiteness introduced by Desai-Rao, Trevisan, Bauer-Jost, respectively, on unsigned graphs,, and the frustration index (originally called the line index of balance by Harary) on signed graphs. We further unify th…
We study the $p$-independence of spectra of Laplace operators on graphs arising from regular Dirichlet forms on discrete spaces. Here, a sufficient criterion is given solely by a uniform subexponential growth condition. Moreover, under a mild assumption on the measure we show a one-sided spectral inclusion without any further assumptions. We study applications to normalized Laplacians including symmetries of the spectrum and a characterization for positivity of the Cheeger constant. Furthermore, we consider Laplacians on planar tessellations for which we relate the spectral $p$-independence to…
Our goal in this paper is to find an estimate for the spectral gap of the Laplacian on a 2-simplicial complex consisting on a triangulation of a complete graph. An upper estimate is given by generalizing the Cheeger constant. The lower estimate is obtained from the first non-zero eigenvalue of the discrete Laplacian acting on the functions of certain sub-graphs.
Several new spectral properties of the normalized Laplacian defined for oriented hypergraphs are shown. The eigenvalue $1$ and the case of duplicate vertices are discussed; two Courant nodal domain theorems are established; new quantities that bound the eigenvalues are introduced. In particular, the Cheeger constant is generalized and it is shown that the classical Cheeger bounds can be generalized for some classes of hypergraphs; it is shown that a geometric quantity used to study zonotopes bounds the largest eigenvalue from below, and that the notion of coloring number can be generalized and…
Cheeger inequalities bound the spectral gap $γ$ of a space by isoperimetric properties of that space and vice versa. In this paper, I derive Cheeger-type inequalities for nonpositive matrices (aka stoquastic Hamiltonians), real matrices, and Hermitian matrices. For matrices written $H = L+W$, where $L$ is either a combinatorial or normalized graph Laplacian, I show that: (1) when $W$ is diagonal and $L$ has maximum degree $d_{\max}$, $2h \geq γ\geq \sqrt{h^2 + d_{\max}^2}-d_\max$; (2) when $W$ is real, we can often route negative-weighted edges along positive-weighted edges such that the Cheeg…
Let ϕ(G) be the minimum conductance of an undirected graph G, and let 0=λ_1 <= λ_2 <=... <= λ_n <= 2 be the eigenvalues of the normalized Laplacian matrix of G. We prove that for any graph G and any k >= 2, ϕ(G) = O(k) λ_2 / \sqrt{λ_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 λ_k$ is a constant for some constant k. This provides…
In this paper, we establish Buser type inequalities, i.e., upper bounds for eigenvalues in terms of Cheeger constants. We prove the Buser's inequality for an infinite but locally finite connected graph with Ricci curvature lower bounds. Furthermore, we derive that the graph with positive curvature is finite, especially for unbounded Laplacians. By proving Poincaré inequality, we obtain a lower bound on Cheeger constant in terms of positive curvature.
A basic fact in spectral graph theory is that the number of connected components in an undirected graph is equal to the multiplicity of the eigenvalue zero in the Laplacian matrix of the graph. In particular, the graph is disconnected if and only if there are at least two eigenvalues equal to zero. Cheeger's inequality and its variants provide an approximate version of the latter fact; they state that a graph has a sparse cut if and only if there are at least two eigenvalues that are close to zero. It has been conjectured that an analogous characterization holds for higher multiplicities, i.e.…
In this article, we derive bounds for values of the global geometry of locally tessellating planar graphs, namely, the Cheeger constant and exponential growth, in terms of combinatorial curvatures. We also discuss spectral implications for the Laplacians.
The eigenvectors for graph $1$-Laplacian possess some sort of localization property: On one hand, any nodal domain of an eigenvector is again an eigenvector with the same eigenvalue; on the other hand, one can pack up an eigenvector for a new graph by several fundamental eigencomponents and modules with the same eigenvalue via few special techniques. The Courant nodal domain theorem for graphs is extended to graph $1$-Laplacian for strong nodal domains, but for weak nodal domains it is false. The notion of algebraic multiplicity is introduced in order to provide a more precise estimate of the …
In graph theory there are intimate connections between the expansion properties of a graph and the spectrum of its Laplacian. In this paper we define a notion of combinatorial expansion for simplicial complexes of general dimension, and prove that similar connections exist between the combinatorial expansion of a complex, and the spectrum of the high dimensional Laplacian defined by Eckmann. In particular, we present a Cheeger-type inequality, and a high-dimensional Expander Mixing Lemma. As a corollary, using the work of Pach, we obtain a connection between spectral properties of complexes an…
In this article, we introduce a geometric and a spectral preorder relation on the class of weighted graphs with a magnetic potential. The first preorder is expressed through the existence of a graph homomorphism respecting the magnetic potential and fulfilling certain inequalities for the weights. The second preorder refers to the spectrum of the associated Laplacian of the magnetic weighted graph. These relations give a quantitative control of the effect of elementary and composite perturbations of the graph (deleting edges, contracting vertices, etc.) on the spectrum of the corresponding Lap…
We introduce the homogeneous and piecewise multilinear extensions and the eigenvalue problem for locally Lipschitz function pairs, in order to develop a systematic framework for relating discrete and continuous min-max problems. This also enables us to investigate spectral properties for pairs of $p$-homogeneous functions and to propose a critical point theory for zero-homogeneous functions. The main contributions are: (1) We provide several min-max relations between an original discrete formulation and its piecewise multilinear extension. We introduce the concept of perfect domain pairs to vi…
