Finsler metrics on symmetric cones

Let V be a simple Euclidean Jordan algebra with an associative inner product and let be the corresponding symmetric cone. Let be the compact symmetric space of all primitive idempotents of V. We show that the function s(a,b) defined by is a (the automorphism group of )-invariant complete metric on and it coincides with a natural Finsler distance on We also show that the metric s(a,b) (strictly) contracts any (strict) conformal compression of . Received: 24 May 1999 / in final form: 15 March 1999