For positive block sizes, the real matrix is a positive semidefinite matrix exactly when . For test-vector block sums , its quadratic form is . This proves sufficiency; testing proves necessity. Zero sums in both blocks describe part of its kernel.
A real symmetric matrix admitting a finite sum of nonnegative rank-one matrices . It is both a positive semidefinite matrix and a nonnegative matrix, but these two properties alone need not imply membership in the completely positive cone in arbitrary dimension. This matrix notion is distinct from a completely positive map.
Complex Wishart matrix 2026-10-07
A complex Wishart matrix is the Gram matrix of an -by- matrix of independent centered complex Gaussian random variables with an indicated variance convention. It is a positive semidefinite matrix. In the standard convention with joint entry density proportional to and , its eigenvalue density contains the weight and a squared Vandermonde determinant.
Copositive matrix Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
A real symmetric matrix is copositive if its quadratic form satisfies for every in the nonnegative orthant. Every positive semidefinite matrix and every symmetric nonnegative matrix is copositive, as is their sum. The converse fails for the Horn copositive matrix.
For with a known positive-definite matrix , the maximum-likelihood estimator of is . It is unbiased with variance , attaining the Cramer-Rao bound. It is also the best linear unbiased estimator. Pairwise admissible correlation coefficients alone do not ensure that is a valid covariance matrix; the entire matrix must be symmetric and a positive semidefinite matrix. Inverse-based formulas require positive definiteness.
Elliptope 2026-10-06
The set of real positive semidefinite matrices with unit diagonal. Equivalently, its members are Gram matrices of unit vectors, by the real spectral theorem. Every two-by-two principal minor gives , so the set is bounded; it is also closed, hence compact in finite dimension. This gives attainment of linear objectives used in semidefinite programming.
Gauge-boson mass matrix 2026-10-05
With canonically normalized gauge field kinetic terms, a gauge-boson mass matrix is the real symmetric matrix of coefficients in the displayed quadratic mass term. Its eigenvalues are squared physical gauge boson masses. For a complex scalar field vacuum in the Higgs mechanism, . Thus for real , : it is a Gram matrix and a positive semidefinite matrix. An unbroken generator annihilates the vacuum expectation value and lies in its null space. Diagonalizing the matrix identifies the massive and massless field combinations.
Hadamard power 2026-10-06
For integer , the entrywise power has entries and equals the repeated Hadamard product. The zero power is the all-ones matrix, even at zero entries, because it represents the constant function one. Every nonnegative integer Hadamard power of a positive semidefinite matrix is positive semidefinite by the Schur product theorem. It is not an ordinary matrix power.
Hadamard product 2026-10-06
The matrix with entries . It differs from ordinary matrix multiplication. The Schur product theorem states that it preserves positive semidefiniteness when both factors are positive semidefinite matrices.
Horn copositive matrix Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
The five-dimensional Horn copositive matrix has diagonal entries , entries on the edges of the five-cycle, and entries on the remaining pairs:
For , a cyclic relabelling puts a smallest coordinate at . The identity
then proves that is a copositive matrix.
However, is outside the positive-semidefinite-plus-nonnegative cone. Set . Its quadratic form is zero. If with a positive semidefinite matrix and a symmetric nonnegative matrix, both and must vanish. Positivity of the first three coordinates of forces every entry of the leading block of to vanish. Applying the argument to all cyclic shifts of forces every entry of to vanish, since each pair of indices lies in a cyclic interval of length three. This would make a positive semidefinite matrix, but zero quadratic form of a positive semidefinite matrix would then give , whereas .
Krivine rounding scheme 2026-10-06
For a bipartite elliptope matrix , put and apply within the two diagonal blocks and across them. Matching absolute power series coefficients give a positive semidefinite matrix by coefficient-dominated entrywise positivity, while gives unit diagonal. Gaussian hyperplane rounding then turns each cross-block correlation coefficient into because . The zero diagonal blocks of the bipartite objective eliminate every other contribution.
Local minimum Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
A function has a local minimum at when throughout some neighbourhood of . For a twice differentiable function, its Hessian matrix at an interior local minimum is positive semidefinite.
Loewner order Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Mean-curvature comparison at tangential contact Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Suppose two graph surfaces and are tangent at the origin, are oriented upward, and nearby. Then has a local minimum, so its Hessian matrix is positive semidefinite. At the common horizontal tangent plane,
Nonnegative matrix 2026-10-05
A real matrix is nonnegative when every entry is nonnegative. This entrywise condition differs from being a positive semidefinite matrix: the symmetric matrix is nonnegative but has eigenvalues and .