A quantum expectation identity: Applications to statistical mechanics

In this article we derive a useful expectation identity using the language of quantum statistical mechanics, where density matrices represent the state of knowledge about the system. This identity allows to establish relations between different quantum observables depending on a continuous parameter γ∈R. Such a parameter can be contained in the observables itself (e.g. perturbative parameter) or may appear as a Lagrange multiplier (inverse temperature, chemical potential, etc.) in the density matrix, excluding parameters that modify the underlying Hilbert space. In this way, using both canonical and grand canonical density matrices along with certain quantum observables (Hamiltonian, number operator, the density matrix itself, etc.) we found new identities in the field, showing not only its derivation but also their meaning. Additionally, we found that some theorems of traditional quantum statistics and quantum chemistry, such as the thermodynamical fluctuation–dissipation theorem, the Ehrenfest, and the Hellmann–Feynman theorems, among others, are particular instances of our aforementioned quantum expectation identity. At last, using a generalized density matrix arising from the Maximum-Entropy principle, we derive generalized quantum expectation identities: these generalized identities allow us to group all the previous cases in a unitary scheme.