Maximal Prime Subgraph Decomposition of Bayesian Networks

May 2001

Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS 2001)

Volume

Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS 2001)

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In this paper we present a method for decomposition of Bayesian networks into their maximal prime subgraphs. The correctness of the method is proven and results relating the maximal prime subgraph decomposition to the maximal complete subgraphs of the moral graph of the original Bayesian network are presented. The maximal prime subgraphs of a Bayesian network can be organized as a tree which can be used as the computational structure for lazy propagation. We also identify a number of tasks performed on Bayesian networks that can benefit from maximal prime subgraph decomposition. These tasks are: divide and conquer triangulation, hybrid propagation algorithms combining exact and approximative inference techniques, and incremental construction of junction trees. We briefly compare the proposed algorithm with standard algorithms for decomposition of undirected graphs into their maximal prime subgraphs. The discussion shows that the proposed algorithm is simpler, more easy to comprehend, and it has the same complexity as the standard algorithms.