Troika algorithm: Approximate optimization for accurate clique partitioning and clustering of weighted networks
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Clique partitioning is the fundamental network clustering task of identifying an optimal node partition for a weighted graph according to the real-valued edge weights. An optimal partition is one that maximizes the sum of within-cluster edge weights over all possible node partitions. This paper introduces a novel approximation algorithm, named Troika, to solve this NP-hard problem in small to mid-sized networks for instances of theoretical and practical relevance. Troika uses a branch-and-cut scheme for branching on node triples to find a partition that is within a user-specified optimality gap tolerance. Troika offers advantages over alternative methods for clique partitioning like heuristics and integer programming solvers. Unlike heuristics, Troika returns solutions within a guaranteed proximity to global optimality. Compared to the integer programming solver, Gurobi, Troika is faster for most benchmark instances. Besides its advantages for solving the clique partitioning problem, we demonstrate the applications of Troika in community detection and portfolio analysis. Troika returns partitions with higher proximity to optimal compared to eight modularity-based community detection algorithms. When used on networks of correlations among stocks, Troika reveals the dynamic changes in the structure of portfolio networks including downturns from the 2008 financial crisis and the reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our comprehensive results based on benchmarks from the literature and new real and random networks point to Troika as a reliable and accurate method for solving clique partitioning instances with up to 5000 edges on standard hardware.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.007 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.007 | 0.002 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".