Hadronic corrections to QCD sum rules and light quark masses

A parametrization of theJ ^p =0^? hadronic continuum, in the framework of Extended PCAC, is discussed with emphasis on finite-width effects and on the constraints imposed by the correct threshold behavior of the pion spectral function. As an application light quark masses are calculated using both Hilbert and Laplace transform QCD sum rules. The results for the runing quark masses are: \((\bar m_u + \bar m_d )|_{1 Gev} = 16 \pm 2 MeV,(\bar m_u + \bar m_s )|_{1 Gev} = 199 \pm 27 MeV\) , and a ratio \(R \equiv 2(\bar m_u + \bar m_s )/(\bar m_u + \bar m_d )_{1 Gev} = 25 \pm 4\) .