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CircularRealMatrixDistribution
  • See Also
    • CircularOrthogonalMatrixDistribution
    • CircularUnitaryMatrixDistribution
    • CircularSymplecticMatrixDistribution
    • CircularQuaternionMatrixDistribution
    • MatrixPropertyDistribution
  • Related Guides
    • Matrix Distributions
    • Random Variables
    • See Also
      • CircularOrthogonalMatrixDistribution
      • CircularUnitaryMatrixDistribution
      • CircularSymplecticMatrixDistribution
      • CircularQuaternionMatrixDistribution
      • MatrixPropertyDistribution
    • Related Guides
      • Matrix Distributions
      • Random Variables

CircularRealMatrixDistribution[n]

represents a circular real matrix distribution with matrix dimensions {n,n}.

Details
Details and Options Details and Options
Background & Context
Examples  
Basic Examples  
Scope  
Applications  
Properties & Relations  
See Also
Related Guides
History
Cite this Page
BUILT-IN SYMBOL
  • See Also
    • CircularOrthogonalMatrixDistribution
    • CircularUnitaryMatrixDistribution
    • CircularSymplecticMatrixDistribution
    • CircularQuaternionMatrixDistribution
    • MatrixPropertyDistribution
  • Related Guides
    • Matrix Distributions
    • Random Variables
    • See Also
      • CircularOrthogonalMatrixDistribution
      • CircularUnitaryMatrixDistribution
      • CircularSymplecticMatrixDistribution
      • CircularQuaternionMatrixDistribution
      • MatrixPropertyDistribution
    • Related Guides
      • Matrix Distributions
      • Random Variables

CircularRealMatrixDistribution

CircularRealMatrixDistribution[n]

represents a circular real matrix distribution with matrix dimensions {n,n}.

Details

  • CircularRealMatrixDistribution is also known as circular real ensemble, or CRE.
  • CircularRealMatrixDistribution represents a uniform distribution over the orthogonal square matrices of dimension n, also known as the Haar measure on the orthogonal group .
  • The dimension parameter n can be any positive integer.
  • CircularRealMatrixDistribution can be used with such functions as MatrixPropertyDistribution and RandomVariate.

Background & Context

  • CircularRealMatrixDistribution[n], also referred to as the circular real ensemble (CRE), represents a statistical distribution over the orthogonal real matrices, namely real square matrices satisfying , where denotes the transpose of and denotes the identity matrix. Here, the parameter n is called the dimension parameter of the distribution and may be any positive integer.
  • Along with the circular quaternion matrix distribution (CircularQuaternionMatrixDistribution), the circular real matrix distribution is one of two major additions to the three original circle matrix ensembles (CircularOrthogonalMatrixDistribution, CircularSymplecticMatrixDistribution and CircularUnitaryMatrixDistribution) devised by Freeman Dyson in 1962. Probabilistically, the circular real matrix distribution represents a uniform distribution over the collection of orthogonal square matrices, while mathematically it is a so-called Haar measure on the orthogonal group . Matrix ensembles like the circular real matrix distribution are of considerable importance in the study of random matrix theory, as well as in various branches of physics and mathematics.
  • RandomVariate can be used to give one or more machine- or arbitrary-precision (the latter via the WorkingPrecision option) pseudorandom variates from a circular real matrix distribution, and the mean, median, variance, raw moments and central moments of a collection of such variates may then be computed using Mean, Median, Variance, Moment and CentralMoment, respectively. Distributed[A,CircularRealMatrixDistribution[n]], written more concisely as ACircularRealMatrixDistribution[n], can be used to assert that a random matrix A is distributed according to a circular real matrix distribution. Such an assertion can then be used in functions such as MatrixPropertyDistribution.
  • The trace, eigenvalues and norm of variates distributed according to circular real matrix distribution may be computed using Tr, Eigenvalues and Norm, respectively. Such variates may also be examined with MatrixFunction and MatrixPower, while the entries of such variates can be plotted using MatrixPlot.
  • CircularRealMatrixDistribution is related to a number of other distributions. As discussed above, it is qualitatively similar to other circular matrix distributions such as CircularQuaternionMatrixDistribution, CircularOrthogonalMatrixDistribution, CircularSymplecticMatrixDistribution and CircularUnitaryMatrixDistribution. Originally, the circular matrix ensembles were derived as generalizations of the so-called Gaussian ensembles, and so CircularRealMatrixDistribution is related to GaussianOrthogonalMatrixDistribution, GaussianSymplecticMatrixDistribution and GaussianUnitaryMatrixDistribution. CircularRealMatrixDistribution is also related to MatrixNormalDistribution, MatrixTDistribution, WishartMatrixDistribution, InverseWishartMatrixDistribution, TracyWidomDistribution and WignerSemicircleDistribution.

Examples

open all close all

Basic Examples  (2)

Generate a random CRE matrix:

Wolfram Language code: RandomVariate[CircularRealMatrixDistribution[3]]

Verify that the matrix is orthogonal:

Wolfram Language code: OrthogonalMatrixQ[%]

Sample a random point on a sphere using MatrixPropertyDistribution:

Wolfram Language code: RandomVariate[MatrixPropertyDistribution[r.{0, 0, 1}, rCircularRealMatrixDistribution[3]]]

The distribution of points over the sphere is uniform:

Wolfram Language code: Point[RandomVariate[MatrixPropertyDistribution[r.{0, 0, 1}, rCircularRealMatrixDistribution[3]], 10 ^ 3]]//Graphics3D

Scope  (3)

Generate a single random orthogonal matrix:

Wolfram Language code: RandomVariate[CircularRealMatrixDistribution[2]]

Generate a set of random orthogonal matrices:

Wolfram Language code: RandomVariate[CircularRealMatrixDistribution[2], 3]

Compute statistical properties numerically:

Wolfram Language code: det𝒟 = MatrixPropertyDistribution[Det[𝓂], 𝓂CircularRealMatrixDistribution[4]];
Wolfram Language code: NProbability[Δ == 1, Δdet𝒟]
Wolfram Language code: NProbability[Δ == -1, Δdet𝒟]

Applications  (2)

Sample EulerAngles of random special orthogonal matrices in 3D:

Wolfram Language code: EulerAngles𝒟 = MatrixPropertyDistribution[EulerAngles[𝓂 / Det[𝓂]], 𝓂CircularRealMatrixDistribution[3]];
Wolfram Language code: angles = RandomVariate[EulerAngles𝒟, 10 ^ 4];

Check that the sample agrees with the expected distribution:

Wolfram Language code: DistributionFitTest[angles, ProductDistribution[UniformDistribution[{-Pi, Pi}], ProbabilityDistribution[(1/2)Sin[θ], {θ, 0, Pi}], UniformDistribution[{-Pi, Pi}]]]

Visualize histograms of individual angles:

Wolfram Language code: Histogram[#, Automatic, PDF]& /@ Transpose[angles]

Sample points on by randomly rotating a fixed 4D vector:

Wolfram Language code: p4d = RandomVariate[MatrixPropertyDistribution[r.UnitVector[4, 4], rCircularRealMatrixDistribution[4]], 5 10 ^ 4];
Wolfram Language code: AllTrue[p4d, RegionMember[Sphere[4]]]

Project the points to by Hopf map, for which the uniform measure on induces uniform measure on :

Wolfram Language code: hopf = {x, y, z, w}  {(ArcTan[x, y] + Pi) / (2Pi), 2(x z + y w), 2(y z - x w), x ^ 2 + y ^ 2 - z ^ 2 - w ^ 2};
Wolfram Language code: Simplify[Norm[Rest[hopf[x, y, z, w]]], {x, y, z, w}∈Sphere[4]]
Wolfram Language code: Simplify[Det[Grad[hopf[x, y, z, w], {x, y, z, w}]], {x, y, z, w}∈Sphere[4]]

Project the points and bin them by the first coordinate of the projection:

Wolfram Language code: proj = hopf@@@p4d; res = GatherBy[SortBy[proj, First], Quotient[First[#], 0.05]&]; res = Drop[res, None, None, 1];

Visualize the points on at different angles on :

Wolfram Language code: Animate[Graphics3D[{PointSize[Small], Point[res[[k]]]}, PlotRange -> {{-1, 1}, {-1, 1}, {-1, 1}}], {{k, 1, "ϕ"}, 1, Length[res], 1}, TrackedSymbols :> k, SaveDefinitions -> True, AnimationRunning -> False]

Properties & Relations  (2)

Distribution of phase angle of the eigenvalues:

Wolfram Language code: dim = 300; args = RandomVariate[MatrixPropertyDistribution[Arg[Eigenvalues[x]], xCircularRealMatrixDistribution[dim]], 100];
Wolfram Language code: Histogram[Join@@args, {-Pi, Pi, 2Pi / 40}, PDF]

Compute the spacing between eigenvalues:

Wolfram Language code: diffs = Join@@Map[Composition[Differences, Sort], (args/2Pi)dim];

Compare the histogram of sample level spacings with the closed form, also known as Wigner surmise for Dyson index :

Wolfram Language code: WignerSurmisePDF[x_, β : 2] := 2(4 x / Pi) ^ 2 Exp[(-4 / Pi) x ^ 2]
Wolfram Language code: Show[Histogram[diffs, {0.1}, PDF], Plot[WignerSurmisePDF[x, 2], {x, 0, 2.5}]]

For eigenvectors of CircularRealMatrixDistribution with dimension large, the scaled modulus of the elements is distributed:

Wolfram Language code: 𝒟 = MatrixPropertyDistribution[Flatten[Abs[Eigenvectors[𝓂]] ^ 2], 𝓂CircularRealMatrixDistribution[50]];
Wolfram Language code: data = 2Normalize[Join@@RandomVariate[𝒟, 100], Mean];

Compare the histogram with PDF of ChiSquareDistribution:

Wolfram Language code: Show[Histogram[data, "Scott", PDF], Plot[PDF[ChiSquareDistribution[2], x], {x, 0, 9}]]

See Also

CircularOrthogonalMatrixDistribution  CircularUnitaryMatrixDistribution  CircularSymplecticMatrixDistribution  CircularQuaternionMatrixDistribution  MatrixPropertyDistribution

Related Guides

    ▪
  • Matrix Distributions
  • ▪
  • Random Variables

History

Introduced in 2015 (10.3)

Wolfram Research (2015), CircularRealMatrixDistribution, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CircularRealMatrixDistribution.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2015), CircularRealMatrixDistribution, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CircularRealMatrixDistribution.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2015. "CircularRealMatrixDistribution." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CircularRealMatrixDistribution.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2015). CircularRealMatrixDistribution. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CircularRealMatrixDistribution.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2026_circularrealmatrixdistribution, author="Wolfram Research", title="{CircularRealMatrixDistribution}", year="2015", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CircularRealMatrixDistribution.html}", note=[Accessed: 01-September-2026]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2026_circularrealmatrixdistribution, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={CircularRealMatrixDistribution}, year={2015}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CircularRealMatrixDistribution.html}, note=[Accessed: 01-September-2026]}

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