In this paper we derive a new sufficient condition for the nonnegativity of time scale quadratic functionals associated to time scale symplectic systems. To establish this result, a new global Picone formula is derived. Another proof of a special case of the result is shown to be obtained via a Sturmian comparison technique. Furthermore, we derive several new Picone type identities which, in particular, do not impose a certain delta-differentiability assumption, and we survey known ones from the literature. The results in this paper complete our earlier work on the definiteness of a time scale quadratic functional in terms of its corresponding time scale symplectic system.

Last change: August 22, 2009. (c) Roman Hilscher