  A QCD Laplace sum rule framework is employed to investigate the relationship
between the mass and the decay width of the sigma, the lowest-lying isoscalar
resonance in the spin-zero meson channel. Our analysis differs from prior
analyses, not only by incorporating finite-width departures from the narrow
resonance approximation, but also through the inclusion of direct-instanton
contributions and three-loop-order perturbative effects. Assuming that the
sigma is the dominant subcontinuum resonance in this channel, the least upper
bound we obtain for the sigma-mass is shown to increase with the sigma-width,
and suggests that a sigma lighter than 800 MeV should have a total width
substantially smaller than its mass.
