The thermal trace closes bosonic coherent-state paths periodically and fermionic coherent-state paths antiperiodically: and , with for bosons and for fermions. The minus sign follows from the fermionic coherent-state trace, not from choosing a different Hamiltonian. These boundary conditions determine the allowed Matsubara frequencies.
The bosonic coherent-state resolution of identity gives the ordinary trace by insertion into a number-state basis. For fermions, the fermionic coherent-state trace requires a sign in the bra. In one mode, for an even operator ,
Without that sign the result would be the supertrace . Applying this identity mode by mode to the even operator gives the grand canonical partition function