qrandommaxint: Uniformly distributed true random signed integers in the full...

In skoestlmeier/qrandom: True Random Numbers using the ANU Quantum Random Numbers Server

Uniformly distributed true random signed integers in the full range

Description

qrandommaxint generates uniformly distributed true random signed integers from the API of the vacuum quantum-fluctuation server at the Australian National University. The numbers are uniformly distributed over the full range of signed integers, where both values are included.

Usage

qrandommaxint(n = 1)

Arguments

n	The number of random signed integers to return. Must be between 1 and 100,000. Default is 1.

Details

qrandommaxint is based on the function qrandom to generate input of n 32-bit numbers in hexadecimal representation. These numbers are converted to bit-representations and then interpreted as signed integers. This approach does not suffer from the sampling bias inherent in multiplying an integer range with a number from U(0, 1).

The true random numbers are generated in real-time by measuring the quantum fluctuations of the vacuum. The official QRNG@ANU API currently supports only a maximum of 1,024 random numbers per request, thus requests for more numbers are split up into smaller requests of maximum 1,024 numbers. In fact, each request may take a couple of seconds to be served. The greatest possible request qrandommaxint(n = 100000) takes about 7 minutes (via DSL 16,000 internet connection) and its size is about 781.3 KB. The sequence of uniformly distributed hexadeximal octets is transformed into signed integers, which usually corresponds to U(-2,147,483,647, 2,147,483,647). These numbers can be used to initialize R's RNG.

Although it is of little practical importance, note that both input patterns 0x00000000 and 0x80000000 are internally interpreted as zero, whereas strtoi("0x80000000") (and all larger, i.e. negative numbers) return NA.

For further information on the underlying function to retrieve quantum random numbers, see qrandom.

Further information can be obtained from the ANU Quantum Random Number Generator FAQ and the list of references to scientific papers.

Value

qrandommaxint returns an integer vector of length n class "integer" with type "integer" with n true random numbers, uniformly distributed over the full range of signed integers, where both values are included.

References

Secure Quantum Communication group, Centre for Quantum Computing and Communication Technology, Department of Quantum Sciences, Research School of Physics and Engineering, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. Welcome to the ANU Quantum Random Numbers Server. https://qrng.anu.edu.au/

See Also

qrandom

Examples

## request for 10 true random integers
randomIntegers <- qrandommaxint(n = 10)

## randomly set the RNG seed
set.seed(qrandommaxint())

skoestlmeier/qrandom documentation built on Sept. 10, 2022, 1:20 p.m.