Gauge Fields and Pairing in Double-Layer Composite Fermion Metals

A symmetrically doped double-layer electron system with total filling fraction {nu}=1/{ital m} decouples into two even-denominator composite fermion {open_quote}{open_quote}metals{close_quote}{close_quote} when the layer spacing is large. Statistical gauge fluctuations in this system mediate an attractive pairing interaction between composite fermions in different layers. A strong-coupling analysis shows that for any layer spacing {ital d} this pairing interaction leads to the formation of a paired quantum Hall state. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}