We study the σ meson in QCD sum rules using a two quark interpolating field with derivatives. In the constituent quark model, the σ meson is composed of a quark and an antiquark in the relative p-wave state and is thus expected to have a larger overlap with an interpolating field that measures the derivative of the relative quark wave function. While the sum rule with a current without derivative gives a pole mass of around 1 GeV, the present sum rule with derivative current gives a mass of around 550 MeV and a width of 400 MeV, that could be identified with the σ meson.PACS numbers: 12.38. Lg,11.55.Hx,14.40.Cs The existence of the light scalar meson or σ(600) had been controversial for a long time despite of its important role in chiral dynamics in QCD physics [1,2]. It is only recently that the existence has been confirmed [3,4], through the careful reanalyses of the π-π scattering phase shift [5], and the findings of the σ pole in the heavy particle decays such as D → πππ and Υ(3S) → Υππ [6,7,8].On the other hand, the physical content of the σ meson is still controversial [9]. In addition to the usual picture of a qq state, there are several plausible candidates like a four quark state qqqq [10, 11] and a ππ molecule, which can be mixed with a glueball. Also, the σ meson may be a collective qq states just as the π is, due to the chiral symmetry [12]. Hence, it is important to confirm the existence of the σ meson, and to investigate its nature on the basis of QCD.In lattice QCD [13], most of the calculations using a two quark interpolating field seem to predict the ground state mass of scalar particle in the isospin 1 channel to be above 1.3 GeV [14,15,16,17,18], while some predict it to be around 1 GeV [19,20]. In contrast, most lattice calculations based on a four quark interpolating field consistently predict the mass to be around 1 GeV for the f 0 , a 0 [16,21] and around 600 MeV for the σ [17]. The existence of the σ with a two quark interpolating field was confirmed in a full QCD simulation for the first time in Ref. [23]. It was argued that the disconnected diagram is crucially responsible for reducing the σ meson mass to that comparable to the ρ meson mass for the lightest current quark mass achieved in the simulation. It is expected that if extrapolated to the chiral limit, the σ meson mass would be such as m π < m σ < m ρ . On the other hand, for the κ, where no disconnected diagram contributes when a two quark interpolating field is used, the calculated mass was about two times that of the K *[22]. These results suggest that the σ might have a very different quark structure than the rest of the scalar nonet.In this paper, we will study the σ meson in QCD * Electronic address: suhoung@phya.yonsei.ac.kr † Electronic address: morita@phya.yonsei.ac.kr ‡ Electronic address: kohnishi@phya.yonsei.ac.kr sum rules, which is another first principle approach to QCD [24]. The first QCD sum rule attempt was made in Ref. [25] with the usual two quark interpolating field ∼ūu(x) +dd(x); a local operator. Assumin...