  We describe a probabilistic (generative) view of affinity matrices along with
inference algorithms for a subclass of problems associated with data
clustering. This probabilistic view is helpful in understanding different
models and algorithms that are based on affinity functions OF the data. IN
particular, we show how(greedy) inference FOR a specific probabilistic model IS
equivalent TO the spectral clustering algorithm.It also provides a framework
FOR developing new algorithms AND extended models. AS one CASE, we present new
generative data clustering models that allow us TO infer the underlying
distance measure suitable for the clustering problem at hand. These models seem
to perform well in a larger class of problems for which other clustering
algorithms (including spectral clustering) usually fail. Experimental
evaluation was performed in a variety point data sets, showing excellent
performance.
