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-rw-r--r--fg21sim/utils/random.py51
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diff --git a/fg21sim/utils/random.py b/fg21sim/utils/random.py
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+# Copyright (c) 2016 Weitian LI <liweitianux@live.com>
+# MIT license
+
+"""
+Custom utilities of random number generations.
+"""
+
+import numpy as np
+
+
+def spherical_uniform(n=1):
+ """Uniformly pick random points on the surface of a unit sphere.
+ The algorithm is described in [SpherePointPicking]_.
+
+ Parameters
+ ----------
+ n : int
+ Number of points to be randomly picked
+
+ Returns
+ -------
+ theta : float, or 1D `~numpy.ndarray`
+ The polar angles, φ ∈ [0, π]. (unit: rad)
+ If ``n > 1``, then returns a 1D array containing all the generated
+ coordinates. (unit: rad)
+ phi : float, or 1D `~numpy.ndarray`
+ The azimuthal angles, θ ∈ [0, 2π).
+
+ NOTE
+ ----
+ Physicists usually adopt the (radial, polar, azimuthal) order with
+ the (r, θ, φ) notation for the spherical coordinates convention, which
+ is adopted here and by ``healpy``.
+ However, this convention is *different* to the convention generally
+ used by mathematicians.
+
+ References
+ ----------
+ .. [SpherePointPicking]
+ Wolfram MathWorld - Sphere Point Picking
+ http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SpherePointPicking.html
+
+ .. [SphericalCoordinates]
+ Wolfram MathWorld - Spherical Coordinates
+ http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SphericalCoordinates.html
+ """
+ u = np.random.uniform(size=n)
+ v = np.random.uniform(size=n)
+ phi = 2*np.pi * u
+ theta = np.arccos(2*v - 1)
+ return (theta, phi)