Transit Functions and Clustering Systems

Abstract: Transit functions serve not only as abstractions of betweenness and convexity but are also closely connected with clustering systems. Here, we investigate the canonical transit functions of binary clustering systems inspired by pyramids, i.e., interval hypergraphs. We provide alternative characterizations of weak hierarchies, and describe union-closed binary clustering systems as a subclass of pyramids and weakly pyramidal clustering systems as an interesting generalization.