Finding Communities in Linear Time: A Physics Approach

TL;DR

This paper introduces a linear-time community detection method for large graphs using a physics-inspired approach based on voltage drops, enabling efficient community discovery without edge cutting.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel physics-based algorithm that detects communities in graphs efficiently and allows targeted community discovery around specific nodes.

Findings

Achieves linear time complexity for community detection

Does not require edge cutting, simplifying the process

Enables quick identification of communities around specific nodes

Abstract

We present a method that allows for the discovery of communities within graphs of arbitrary size in times that scale linearly with their size. This method avoids edge cutting and is based on notions of voltage drops across networks that are both intuitive and easy to solve regardless of the complexity of the graph involved. We additionally show how this algorithm allows for the swift discovery of the community surrounding a given node without having to extract all the communities out of a graph.