Hierarchically nested factor model from multivariate data

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

Description

We show how to achieve a statistical description of the hierarchical structure of a multivariate data set. Specifically we show that the similarity matrix resulting from a hierarchical clustering procedure is the correlation matrix of a factor model, the hierarchically nested factor model. In this model, factors are mutually independent and hierarchically organized. Finally, we use a bootstrap based procedure to reduce the number of factors in the model with the aim of retaining only those factors significantly robust with respect to the statistical uncertainty due to the finite length of data records.
7 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in Europhys. Lett. ; the Appendix corresponds to the additional material of the accepted letter.

Citation

Collections