Annihilation of Electron-Positron Pairs into Mesons

We estimate the cross section for $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to \mathrm{mesons}$ using (i) $\rho$ dominance of the electromagnetic current, (ii) known couplings of resonances to states involving the on-shell $\rho$ meson, and (iii) the assumption, for the purpose of obtaining numerical estimates, that the meson couplings vary slowly with virtual $\rho$ mass. We conclude that the cross section at 2-GeV total energy could be comparable to the $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to {\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$ cross section. We also attempt to estimate a cross section from the statistical model of Bjorken and Brodsky.