Hierarchical Clustering in Astronomy
arXiv:2211.06002 · doi:10.1016/j.ascom.2022.100662
Abstract
Hierarchical clustering is a common algorithm in data analysis. It is unique among many clustering algorithms in that it draws dendrograms based on the distance of data under a certain metric, and group them. It is widely used in all areas of astronomical research, covering various scales from asteroids and molecular clouds, to galaxies and galaxy cluster. This paper systematically reviews the history and current status of the development of hierarchical clustering methods in various branches of astronomy. These applications can be grouped into two broad categories, one revealing the intrinsic hierarchical structure of celestial systems and the other classifying large samples of celestial objects automatically. By reviewing these applications, we can clarify the conditions and limitations of the hierarchical clustering algorithm, and make more reasonable and reliable astronomical discoveries.
12 pages, 8 figures, accepted by Astronomy and Computing
References in corpus (15)
- Structural Analysis of Molecular Clouds: Dendrograms
- Machine Learning in Astronomy: a practical overview
- 'The Brick' is not a brick: A comprehensive study of the structure and dynamics of the Central Molecular Zone cloud G0.253+0.016
- Superclusters of galaxies from the 2dF redshift survey. I. The catalogue
- An automatic taxonomy of galaxy morphology using unsupervised machine learning
- A large catalogue of molecular clouds with accurate distances within 4 kpc of the Galactic disk
- Two New Catalogues of Superclusters of Abell/ACO Galaxy Clusters out to redshift 0.15
- Identifying star clusters in a field: A comparison of different algorithms
- Extrasolar planet taxonomy: a new statistical approach
- Kinematic parameters and membership probabilities of open clusters in the Bordeaux PM2000 catalogue
- The unrelaxed dynamical structure of the galaxy cluster Abell 85
- Asteroid cratering families: recognition and collisional interpretation
- A large catalogue of molecular clouds in the southern sky
- On the various origins of close-in extrasolar planets
- Unveiling the Hierarchical Structure of Open Star Clusters: the Perseus Double Cluster