The chiral-symmetry-breaking σ term as extracted from the pion-nucleon phase-shift and dispersion analysis implies that the Higgs boson coupling to the nucleon is dominated by the strange quarks. For ${\sigma }_{\pi N}$≃60 MeV the strange-quark contribution is an order of magnitude larger than that of any other flavor. This significantly increases the Higgs-boson–nucleon coupling from its chiral-symmetric value. Some of the phenomenological consequences are briefly discussed. In particular I reanalyze the low-energy nuclear and atomic experimental evidence against the existence of a light scalar boson, and compare the bounds to those originally derived with the expectation that the nucleon consists mainly of the up and down quarks. A summary review of the various issues concerning a large πN σ term is also provided.

• Received 31 May 1988

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.38.2869