Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / iii / Paper 339 / 2 / c / Solution

Write a test vector as $(u,v)$ and put $s={\sum }_i{u}_i$, $t={\sum }_j{v}_j$. Its quadratic form against the block-constant matrix isSince $a\ge |b|$, both $a$ and $a-|b|$ are nonnegative, andEquivalently it isTherefore the bipartite block-constant positive semidefinite matrix satisfies $\boxed{\left(\begin{array}{cc}a{J}_{n,n}& b{J}_{n,m}\\ b{J}_{m,n}& a{J}_{m,m}\end{array}\right)⪰0}$.

For positive block sizes, the condition is also necessary: choose $s=t$ and $s=-t$ to obtain $a+b\ge 0$ and $a-b\ge 0$. Equality is allowed, and vectors whose sums vanish in both blocks lie in the kernel. Positive semidefiniteness, rather than positive definiteness, is the conclusion.