bayesian-sparse-gmm 0.2.1

Bayesian Sparse Gaussian Mixture Model implementation in Python

Bayesian Sparse GMM

Bayesian Sparse Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) implementation in Python.

Installation

To install the latest release:

pip install bayesian-sparse-gmm

Or for development (editable mode):

git clone https://github.com/Coalyx/bayesian-sparse-gmm.git
cd bayesian-sparse-gmm
pip install -e .

Quick Start

import numpy as np
from sklearn.datasets import make_blobs
from sklearn.preprocessing import StandardScaler
from bayesian_sparse_gmm import BayesianSparseGMM

# Append noise dimensions to true clusters to verify that the model successfully performs feature selection.
rng = np.random.default_rng(42)
X_clean, _ = make_blobs(n_samples=200, centers=3, n_features=2, cluster_std=0.5, random_state=42)
X_noise = rng.normal(loc=0.0, scale=1.0, size=(200, 8))
X = np.hstack([X_clean, X_noise])

# Standardize features to satisfy the zero-mean assumptions in the prior structure.
X = StandardScaler().fit_transform(X)

model = BayesianSparseGMM(
    K_max=5,
    n_iter=300,
    burn_in=100,
    lambda_0=10.0,
    lambda_1=0.05,
    random_state=42,
    verbose=0
)
model.fit(X)

print(f"Number of active clusters: {model.n_clusters_}")
print(f"Selected informative features: {model.selected_features_}")
print(f"Feature inclusion probabilities: {model.feature_probabilities_.round(3)}")

labels = model.predict(X)

Development and Testing

Install development dependencies:

pip install -e ".[dev]"

Run tests using pytest:

pytest

Algorithm Overview

Bayesian Sparse Gaussian Mixture Model (BSGMM) is a robust clustering algorithm designed specifically for high-dimensional data where the number of features significantly exceeds the number of samples ($p \gg n$). It integrates a Spike-and-Slab LASSO prior to perform simultaneous clustering and feature selection.

Suitable Use Cases

1. High-Dimensional Clustering ($p \gg n$): When dealing with datasets where traditional clustering algorithms (like K-Means or standard GMM) fail due to the "curse of dimensionality". Examples include bioinformatics (e.g., single-cell RNA-seq, genomics), text mining (high-dimensional TF-IDF matrices), and high-resolution images.
2. Automatic Feature Selection (Interpretability): When the goal is not only to cluster the samples but also to identify which specific features (biomarkers, keywords, pixels) drive the cluster assignments. The model automatically shrinks noisy features to exactly zero.
3. Unknown Number of Clusters: When the true number of clusters is unknown. BSGMM can dynamically infer the optimal number of clusters from the data (bounded by K_max).
4. Weak Signals in Noisy Backgrounds: When the discriminative signal is weak and dispersed among thousands of irrelevant features, the model's sparsity mechanism is highly effective at pooling signals.

Hyperparameters

Understanding the key hyperparameters is crucial for fine-tuning the model's sparsity and clustering behavior:

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
K_max	int	15	The maximum possible number of clusters. The algorithm will automatically find the active number of clusters $K \le K_{max}$. Should be set safely higher than the expected number of true clusters.
lambda_0	float	1000.0	Spike rate of the Spike-and-Slab LASSO prior. A larger value aggressively forces non-informative (noise) features closer to zero. Must satisfy lambda_0 >> lambda_1.
lambda_1	float	0.1	Slab rate. A smaller value allows informative features to deviate freely from zero to capture the cluster structure.
alpha	float	1.0	Dirichlet concentration parameter for the cluster weight prior. Controls the prior belief over the distribution of cluster sizes.
theta	float	0.1	Prior probability of a feature being included in the active set (the slab component). Smaller values induce stronger sparsity (fewer features selected).
burn_in	int	500	Number of initial MCMC iterations discarded to allow the Markov chain to converge to the stationary distribution.
n_iter	int	1000	Total number of MCMC iterations. The number of samples used for posterior inference is n_iter - burn_in.

Tip: For extremely high-dimensional datasets with heavy noise, tuning lambda_0 to be larger and theta to be smaller will encourage more aggressive feature selection.

Reference

@article{JMLR:v26:23-0142,
  author  = {Dapeng Yao and Fangzheng Xie and Yanxun Xu},
  title   = {Bayesian Sparse Gaussian Mixture Model for Clustering in High Dimensions},
  journal = {Journal of Machine Learning Research},
  year    = {2025},
  volume  = {26},
  number  = {21},
  pages   = {1--50},
  url     = {http://jmlr.org/papers/v26/23-0142.html}
}