sample_powerlaw

gammapy.utils.random.sample_powerlaw(x_min, x_max, gamma, size=None, random_state='random-seed')[source]

Sample random values from a power law distribution.

f(x) = x ** (-gamma) in the range x_min to x_max

It is assumed that gamma is the differential spectral index.

Reference: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/RandomNumber.html

Parameters:
x_min : float

x range minimum

x_max : float

x range maximum

gamma : float

Power law index

size : int, optional

Number of samples to generate

random_state : {int, ‘random-seed’, ‘global-rng’, RandomState}

Defines random number generator initialisation. Passed to get_random_state.

Returns:
x : array

Array of samples from the distribution