Abstract
A variational principle is formulated to determine the single-particle states, their pairing, and the occupation number distribution for a trial state vector of the Bardeen, Cooper, Schrieffer type. The equations which are derived generalize those of the Hartree-Fock method obtained with a Slater determinant trial wave function. It is pointed out that in a suitable representation the vacuum state of a general quasi-particle transformation has such a trial form which exhibits directly the pairing of single-particle states. Another variational principle determines the excitation energies.