Positive semi-definite vs positive definite
Yes. In general a matrix $A$ is called...
- positive definite if for any vector $x \neq 0$, $x' A x > 0$
- positive semi definite if $x' A x \geq 0$.
- nonnegative definite if it is either positive definite or positive semi definite
- negative definite if $x' A x < 0$.
- negative semi definite if $x' A x \leq 0$.
- nonpositive definite if it is either negative definite or negative semi definite
indefinite if it is nothing of those.
Literature: e.g. Harville (1997) Matrix Algebra From A Statisticians's Perspective Section 14.2
A great source for results about positive (semi-)definite matrices is Chapter 7 in Horn, Johnson (2013) Matrix Analysis, 2nd edition. One result I found particularly interesting:
Corollary 7.1.7. A positive semidefinite matrix is positive definite if and only if it is nonsingular.