Is the strange quark heavy or light?

The (invariant) strange quark mass, m ̂s, and vacuum condensate, 〈s̄s〉0, are discussed in the context of SVZ-sum rules saturated by the scalar κ-meson. The value obtained for m ̂s ( m ̂s≅360 MeV) is found to approach its constituent mass value, while 〈s̄s〉0 is predicted to be negligibly small. These two features, which are characteristic of the c- and b- (i.e., heavy) quarks, are new and unexpected for the s-quark. Our results strongly depend on the κ-meson parameters, for which further analyses seem of interest. © 1987.