Model of charmonium absorption by light mesons

We calculate the cross sections for dissociation of $J/\psi$ by pions and ρ mesons within the framework of a meson exchange model. We find that these cross sections are small at center-of-mass energies less than 1 GeV above threshold, and that dissociation rates are less than $0.01\mathrm{fm}/c$ in a thermal meson gas at temperatures where such a description makes sense.