The total cross section for electron-positron annihilation into three or more hadrons has been measured for centre of mass energies between 1.4 and 2.0 GeV. The data were obtained at ADONE by the BB̄ experiment.
We report experimental results on the cross section for the reaction e + e − → hadrons as a function of the total c.m. energy in the range W = 1.42–3.09 GeV. The results, combined with those already existing below the charm threshold, clearly indicate a structure for R ( W ) = α ( e + e − → hadrons)/ α ( e + e − → μ + μ − ) in that energy region.
The average multiplicities 〈 n c 〉 and 〈n〉, of charged-plus-neutral pions produced in e + e − collisions, have been determined for total center-of-mass energies ranging from 1.2 to 2.4 GeV. No appreciable multiplicity variation is observed over this energy range, where the mean values 〈; n c 〉 = 3.3 +0.3 −0.2 and 〈 n 〉 = 4.4 +0.4 −0.2 are found.