  The problem of deriving from microscopic theory a Ginzburg-Landau free energy
functional to describe the Peierls or charge-density-wave transition in
quasi-one-dimensional materials is considered. Particular attention is given to
how the thermal lattice motion affects the electronic states. Near the
transition temperature the thermal lattice motion produces a pseudogap in the
density of states at the Fermi level. Perturbation theory diverges and the
traditional quasi-particle or Fermi liquid picture breaks down. The pseudogap
causes a significant modification of the coefficients in the Ginzburg-Landau
functional from their values in the rigid lattice approximation, which neglects
the effect of the thermal lattice motion. To appear in Physical Review B.
