Consistency of regularized spectral clustering

Clustering is a widely used technique in machine learning, however, relatively little research in consistency of clustering algorithms has been done so far. In this paper we investigate the consistency of the regularized spectral clustering algorithm, which has been proposed recently. It provides a natural out-of-sample extension for spectral clustering. The presence of the regularization term makes our situation different from that in previous work. Our approach is mainly an elaborate analysis of a functional named the clustering objective. Moreover, we establish a convergence rate. The rate depends on the approximation property and the capacity of the reproducing kernel Hilbert space measured by covering numbers. Some new methods are exploited for the analysis since the underlying setting is much more complicated than usual. Some new methods are exploited for the analysis since the underlying setting is much more complicated than usual.