The effects of interactions in a 2D electron system in a strong magnetic
field of two degenerate Landau levels with opposite spins and at filling
factors 1/2 are studied. Using the Chern-Simons gauge transformation, the
system is mapped to Composite Fermions. The fluctuations of the gauge field
induce an effective interaction between the Composite Fermions which can be
attractive in both the particle-particle and in the particle-hole channel. As a
consequence, a spin-singlet (s-wave) ground state of Composite Fermions can
exist with a finite pair-breaking energy gap for particle-particle or
particle-hole pairs. The competition between these two possible ground states
is discussed. For long-range Coulomb interaction the particle-particle state is
favored if the interaction strength is small. With increasing interaction
strength there is a crossover towards the particle-hole state. If the
interaction is short range, only the particle-particle state is possible.Comment: REVTEX; 12 pages, 5 figures; submitted to Phisical Review
