Krein signatures of transfer operators for half-space topological insulators

We propose a complementary point of view on the topological invariants of two-dimensional tight-binding models restricted to half-spaces. The transfer operators for such systems are $J$-unitary on a infinite dimensional Krein space $(\mathcal{K},J)$ and, for energies in the bulk gap, only have discrete spectrum on the unit circle. These eigenvalues have Krein inertia which can be used to define topological invariants determining the nature of the surface modes and allowing to distinguish different topological phases. This is illustrated by numerical results.

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