The nuclear sigma term is calculated including the nuclear matrix element of
the derivative of the NN interaction with respect to the quark mass,
mq∂mq∂VNN. The NN potential is evaluated in the
skyrmion-skyrmion picture within the quantized product ansatz. The contribution
of the NN potential to the nuclear sigma term provides repulsion to the
pion-nucleus interaction. The strength of the s-wave pion-nucleus optical
potential is estimated including such contribution. The results are consistent
with the analysis of the experimental data.Comment: 16 pages (latex), 3 figures (eps), e-mail: [email protected] and
[email protected]