Suppose one looks for functions in \(L^2(\mathbb{R})\) which are eigenvectors of the Weyl operator \(W(a, b)\), say, for \(a,\,b\neq 0\). There are none, and by the Stone-von Neumann uniqueness theorem, to have any requires inequivalent representations, hence non-regular states. This possibility was considered in [\((*)\) \textit{R. Beaume}, \textit{J. Manuceau}, \textit{A. Pellet} and \textit{M. Sirugue}, Commun. Math. Phys. 38, 29--45 (1974; Zbl 0288.46056)] in connection with what those authors termed plane waves and Zak waves. In the present paper, the author considers the very general case where the symplectic real vector space \((V,\Omega)\) can be infinite-dimensional. Given \((V,\Omega)\), let \(A(V,\Omega)\) be its normed Weyl algebra, with the familiar functions \(\delta_v\) for \(v\in V\) as basis, cf. [\textit{J. Manuceau}, \textit{M. Sirugue}, \textit{D. Testard} and \textit{A. Verbeure}, Commun. Math. Phys. 32, 231--243 (1973; Zbl 0284.46039)]. If \(\sigma\) is a state on \(A(V,\Omega)\), the set \(\Lambda_\sigma\) consisting of all \(v\in V\) for which \(|\sigma(\delta_v)|= 1\) and the function \(\chi_\sigma: \Lambda_\sigma\to \mathbb{T}\) taking values \(\chi_\sigma(v)= \sigma(\delta_v)\) are the fundamental objects of interest. Necessarily, \(\Lambda_\sigma\) is an additive subgroup of \(V\) on which the symplectic form \(\Omega\) takes integer values, and \(\chi_\sigma\) is a quasi-character, \[ \chi_\sigma(x) \chi_\sigma(y)= (-1)^{\Omega(x,y)} \chi_\sigma(x+ y). \] The critical cases for \(\sigma\) are where the set of all \(w\in V\) for which \(\Omega(w, \Lambda_\sigma)\subset \mathbb{Z}\) is \(\Lambda_\sigma\). In that case \(\Lambda_\sigma\) is said to be maximal and \(\sigma\) to be polarized. To make contact with the opening remark, if \(\sigma\) is a regular state, \(\Lambda_\sigma= \{\theta\}\); in all cases, a polarized state is pure and its GNS Hilbert space is non-separable. The author provides a comprehensive analysis of polarized states, with the principal results describing when the GNS representations of two polarized states are unitarily equivalent. For the special case where \(V\) is finite-dimensional, the results of \([(*)]\) are obtained.
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