Multi-view clustering via high-order bipartite graph fusion

Abstract

Multi-view clustering is widely applied in engineering and scientific research. It helps reveal the underlying structures and correlations behind complex multi-view data. Graph-based multi-view clustering stands as a prominent research frontier within the multi-view clustering field, yet faces persistent challenges. Firstly, typically constructed initial input graphs for each view yields sparse clustering structure, hindering clustering performance. Secondly, as data sources proliferate, algorithms encounter escalating time complexities, notably in methods relying on n×n fully connected graphs. Thirdly, prevailing graph fusion strategies struggle to mitigate the impact of low-quality graphs, impeding overall efficacy. In this paper, we present a novel Multi-View Clustering method based on High-Order Bipartite Graph fusion (MCHBG). For the first two challenges, the introduced high-order bipartite graphs in MCHBG reveal richer clustering structures, effectively alleviating sparse clustering structure of the input graph, while keeping the overall algorithm’s computational complexity controlled within O(n). For the third challenge, our graph fusion mechanism selectively integrates high-order bipartite graphs, and implicitly weights the selected bipartite graphs to mitigate the impact of low-quality bipartite graphs. MCHBG learns a structured fusion bipartite graph under the Laplacian rank constraint, which directly indicates the clusters of data. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of MCHBG. Code available: https://anonymous.4open.science/r/MCHBG.