What do the eigenvalues and eigenvectors in spectral clustering physically mean. I see that if λ_0 = λ_1 = 0 then we will have 2 connected components. But, what does λ_2,...,λ_k tell us. I don't understand the algebraic connectivity by multiplicity.
Can we draw any conclusions about the tightness of the graph or in comparison to two graphs?
The smaller the eigenvalue, the less connected. 0 just means "disconnected".
Consider this a value of what share of edges you need to cut to produce separate components. The cut is orthogonal to the eigenvector - there is supposedly some threshold t, such that nodes below t should go into one component, above t to the other.