The Constrained Origin of Canonical and Microcanonical Ensembles in Quantum Theory
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866908882102648832 |
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| author | Di Cairano, Loris |
| author_facet | Di Cairano, Loris |
| contents | In quantum theory, equilibrium statistical mechanics is usually formulated through the canonical ensemble, whose privileged status is tied to the Euclidean continuation of time evolution. The microcanonical ensemble, by contrast, is commonly introduced as a separate spectral construction. In this work we show that this asymmetry is representational rather than structural. We formulate the system in an extended Hilbert space in which time is promoted to an auxiliary clock degree of freedom and physical states are selected by a reparametrization-invariant constraint operator $\hat C = \hat P_T + \hat H$. The corresponding projector $δ(\hat C)$ provides a single unified object from which both canonical and microcanonical ensembles emerge as complementary projections in the clock sector. In the clock-time representation, a purely imaginary clock separation yields the Euclidean kernel and the canonical partition function. In the conjugate clock-energy representation, the same projector reduces to the spectral operator $δ(\hat H-E)$ and hence to the microcanonical density of states. The main consequence is structural: canonical and microcanonical statistics need not be introduced as independent constructions, since both are already encoded in the same constrained quantum dynamics. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_12148 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | The Constrained Origin of Canonical and Microcanonical Ensembles in Quantum Theory Di Cairano, Loris Quantum Physics Statistical Mechanics In quantum theory, equilibrium statistical mechanics is usually formulated through the canonical ensemble, whose privileged status is tied to the Euclidean continuation of time evolution. The microcanonical ensemble, by contrast, is commonly introduced as a separate spectral construction. In this work we show that this asymmetry is representational rather than structural. We formulate the system in an extended Hilbert space in which time is promoted to an auxiliary clock degree of freedom and physical states are selected by a reparametrization-invariant constraint operator $\hat C = \hat P_T + \hat H$. The corresponding projector $δ(\hat C)$ provides a single unified object from which both canonical and microcanonical ensembles emerge as complementary projections in the clock sector. In the clock-time representation, a purely imaginary clock separation yields the Euclidean kernel and the canonical partition function. In the conjugate clock-energy representation, the same projector reduces to the spectral operator $δ(\hat H-E)$ and hence to the microcanonical density of states. The main consequence is structural: canonical and microcanonical statistics need not be introduced as independent constructions, since both are already encoded in the same constrained quantum dynamics. |
| title | The Constrained Origin of Canonical and Microcanonical Ensembles in Quantum Theory |
| topic | Quantum Physics Statistical Mechanics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.12148 |