The quantum canonical ensemble

The phase space Γ of quantum mechanics can be viewed as the complex projective space CPn endowed with a Kählerian structure given by the Fubini-Study metric and an associated symplectic form. We can then interpret the Schrödinger equation as generating a Hamiltonian dynamics on Γ. Based upon the geometric structure of the quantum phase space we introduce the corresponding natural microcanonical and canonical ensembles. The resulting density matrix for the canonical Γ-ensemble differs from the density matrix of the conventional approach. As an illustration, the results are applied to the case of a spin one-half particle in a heat bath with an applied magnetic field.