Uniqueness questions in a scaling-rotation geometry on the space of symmetric positive-definite matrices (Q2665762)

The notion of geometric structure on symmetric positive-definite (SPD) matrices introduced in [\textit{S. Jung} et al., SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 36, No. 3, 1180--1201 (2015; Zbl 1321.15020)]. The analysis of symmetric positive-definite (SPD) matrices as data objects arises in many contexts. Geometric structure on symmetric positive-definite (SPD) matrices have had an important role in several classical problems of geometric measure theory and mathematical physics and biological. Several authors study the geometric structure on symmetric positive-definite (SPD) matrices [\textit{V. Arsigny} et al., SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 29, No. 1, 328--347 (2007; Zbl 1144.47015); \textit{S. Bonnabel} and \textit{R. Sepulchre}, SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 31, No. 3, 1055--1070 (2010; Zbl 1220.47025); \textit{I. L. Dryden} et al., Ann. Appl. Stat. 3, No. 3, 1102--1123 (2009; Zbl 1196.62063); \textit{P. T. Fletcher} and \textit{S. Joshi}, Signal Process. 87, No. 2, 250--262 (2007; Zbl 1186.94126); \textit{S. Jung} and \textit{X. Qiao}, Biometrics 70, No. 3, 536--545 (2014; Zbl 1299.62124); \textit{M. Moakher}, SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 26, No. 3, 735--747 (2005; Zbl 1079.47021); \textit{M. Moakher} and \textit{M. Zéraï}, J. Math. Imaging Vis. 40, No. 2, 171--187 (2011; Zbl 1255.68195); \textit{H. Zhu} et al., J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 104, No. 487, 1203--1212 (2009; Zbl 1388.62198); \textit{D. Groisser} et al., Electron. J. Stat. 11, No. 1, 1092--1159 (2017; Zbl 1361.53061)]. In this paper authors investigate a geometric structure on symmetric positive-definite (\(\operatorname{Sym}^{+}(p)\)) matrices (\(p\times p\) symmetric positive-definite matrices). The principal objective in this paper are uniqueness-related issues that arise in studying minimal smooth scaling-rotation (MSSR) curves in \(\operatorname{Sym}^{+}(p)\). (A minimal smooth scaling-rotation curve in \(\operatorname{Sym}^{+}(p)\) is the image under the map \(F\) of an \(F\)-minimal geodesic (where \(F: M(p)=\operatorname{SO}(p)\times \operatorname{Diag}^{+}(p)\longrightarrow \operatorname{Sym}^{+}(p)\) a smooth surjective map, defined by \(F(U,D)=UDU^{T},\) \(U\in \operatorname{SO}(p)\)(-special orthogonal \(p\times p\) matrices), \(D\in \operatorname{Diag}^{+}(p)\) (\(p\times p\) diagonal matrices with positive diagonal entries).