Time-scales Herglotz type Noether theorem for delta derivatives of Birkhoffian systems

The time-scales theory provides a powerful theoretical tool for studying differential and difference equations simultaneously. With regard to Herglotz type variational principle, this generalized variational principle can deal with non-conservative or dissipative problems. Combining the two tools, this paper aims to study time-scales Herglotz type Noether theorem for delta derivatives of Birkhoffian systems. We introduce the time-scales Herglotz type variational problem of Birkhoffian systems firstly and give the form of time-scales Pfaff–Herglotz action for delta derivatives. Then, time-scales Herglotz type Birkhoff’s equations for delta derivatives are derived by calculating the variation of the action. Furthermore, time-scales Herglotz type Noether symmetry for delta derivatives of Birkhoffian systems are defined. According to this definition, time-scales Herglotz type Noether identity and Noether theorem for delta derivatives of Birkhoffian systems are proposed and proved, which can become the ones for delta derivatives of Hamiltonian systems or Lagrangian systems in some special cases. Therefore, it is shown that the results of Birkhoffian formalism are more universal than Hamiltonian or Lagrangian formalism. Finally, the time-scales damped oscillator and a non-Hamiltonian Birkhoffian system are given to exemplify the superiority of the results.