Some geometric properties of matrix means with respect to different metrics

Abstract

In this paper we study the monotonicity, in-betweenness and in-sphere properties of matrix means with respect to Bures–Wasserstein, Hellinger and log-determinant metrics. More precisely, we show that the matrix power means (Kubo–Ando and non-Kubo–Ando extensions) satisfy the in-betweenness property in the Hellinger metric. We also show that for two positive definite matrices A and B, the curve of weighted Heron means, the geodesic curve of the arithmetic and the geometric mean lie inside the sphere centered at the geometric mean with the radius equal to half of the log-determinant distance between A and B.