Higher-Order Spectral Clustering Under Superimposed Stochastic Block Models

Higher-order motif structures and multi-vertex interactions are becoming increasingly important in studies of functionalities and evolution patterns of complex networks. To elucidate the role of higher-order structures in community detection over networks, we introduce a Superimposed Stochastic Block Model (SupSBM). The model is based on a random graph framework in which certain higher-order structures or subgraphs are generated through an independent hyperedge generation process and then replaced with graphs superimposed with edges generated by an inhomogeneous random graph model. Consequently, the model introduces dependencies between edges which allow for capturing more realistic network phenomena, namely strong local clustering in a sparse network, short average path length, and community structure. We then proceed to rigorously analyze the performance of a recently proposed higher-order spectral clustering method on the SupSBM. In particular, we prove non-asymptotic upper bounds on the misclustering error of higher-order spectral community detection for a SupSBM setting in which triangles are superimposed with undirected edges. We assess the model fit of the proposed model and compare it with existing random graph models in terms of observed properties of real network data obtained from diverse domains by sampling networks from the fitted models and a nonparametric network cross-validation approach.