We first find the minima of the general Ginzburg-Landau functional for ${}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}P_2^{}{}_{}{}^{}$ pairing. The BCS functional lies in a region of the Ginzburg-Landau parameter space where the free energy is minimized by any unitary order parameter. We next estimate the strong-coupling corrections to the BCS functional for dense neutron matter. Using current theoretical values for the transition temperature and Landau parameters, we find that the strong-coupling functional remains in the same region of parameter space as the BCS functional.

• Received 4 November 1977

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.17.1524