The Karcher mean of linearly independent triples (Q2228108)

Let \(A, B\) and \(C\) be \(2\times 2\) positive definite Hermitian matrices of derterminant one. The authors prove that the trace condition \(\mathrm{tr}(AB^{-1}) = \mathrm{tr}(AC^{-1}) = \mathrm{tr}(BC^{-1}) \) implies the Karcher mean \(\Lambda (A, B, C) = \frac {A + B + C} { \sqrt {\mathrm{det} (A + B + C)} }\) and the converse holds if \(A, B\) and \(C\) are linearly independent. If \(A, B\) and \(C\) are linearly dependent, then the Karcher mean \(\Lambda (A, B, C) = \frac {A + B + C} { \sqrt {\mathrm{det} (A + B + C)} }\) if and only if one of \(A, B\) and \(C\) is the geometric mean of the other two.