Kernel method for clustering based on optimal target vector

We introduce Ising models, suitable for dichotomic clustering, with couplings that are (i) both ferro- and anti-ferromagnetic (ii) depending on the whole data-set and not only on pairs of samples. Couplings are determined exploiting the notion of optimal target vector, here introduced, a link between kernel supervised and unsupervised learning. The effectiveness of the method is shown in the case of the well-known iris data-set and in benchmarks of gene expression levels, where it works better than existing methods for dichotomic clustering.