Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!FINFUN.BITNET!YLIKOSKI
From: YLIKOSKI@FINFUN.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.ai.digest
Subject: ZAD random number generator
Message-ID: <19880701045829.6.NICK@INTERLAKEN.LCS.MIT.EDU>
Date: 1 Jul 88 04:58:00 GMT
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Date: Fri, 24 Jun 88 18:58 EDT
From: YLIKOSKI%FINFUN.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject:  ZAD random number generator
To: AILIST@AI.AI.MIT.EDU
X-Original-To:  @AILIST, YLIKOSKI

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        AILIST@AI.AI.MIT.EDU

In a recent AIList issue, it was inquired what kind of random number
generator a Zener diode / A-D converter generator would be.

I recall that noise from a Zener diode is quantum mechanical and
follows a well-known and well-defined theoretical spectrum (might it
be the 1/f law?).  As is well known, distributions can be transformed
to obtain the desired one (exponential / Gaussian etc.).

Combining the results by Santha and Vazira mentioned by Albert
Boulanger with a quantum electrodynamical source of noise might even
best a good pseudorandom number generator.

                Andy Ylikoski