Study Characterizes When Two Major Graph Analysis Methods Produce Different Results
A preprint analyzing disagreements between two widely used graph analysis methods — Adjacency Spectral Embedding and Laplacian Spectral Embedding — has been withdrawn from arXiv. The paper was retracted by one of the listed authors, Minh Triet Pham, who stated it was submitted without the consent of all co-authors and contains work currently under academic assessment. The withdrawal raises questions about authorship integrity and the peer review process for preprint servers.
The paper, posted to arXiv under the identifier arXiv:2605.22346, presented theoretical and empirical findings on when and why Adjacency Spectral Embedding (ASE) and Laplacian Spectral Embedding (LSE) produce differing latent subspaces when applied to the same graph. Its core contributions included a proof that the two methods yield identical subspaces when the graph is regular or bipartite biregular, a demonstration that no maximum-disagreement graph exists, and a 'Regularity Departure Bound' identifying degree heterogeneity and eigengap as the primary drivers of disagreement. The paper went through two revisions before being fully withdrawn in its third version on June 10, 2026. The stated reason for withdrawal is that the submission was made without the consent of all listed authors, and the work is currently under academic assessment — suggesting a possible dispute over authorship or premature disclosure of work being evaluated in an academic context. The preprint had been live for approximately three weeks before withdrawal. No PDF is currently available, and the authors indicate the work will be resubmitted at an appropriate time once evaluation is complete.
What's missing
The withdrawal notice does not specify how many authors are listed, which author(s) did not consent, or the nature of the academic assessment underway (e.g., course submission, thesis, journal review). It is also unclear whether the theoretical results themselves are disputed or only the circumstances of submission.
What different sources said
- arXiv cs.LGCenter
The ASE-LSE Disagreement Landscape: An End-to-End Characterisation of Extremes and Structural Drivers
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