Precise Measurement of the<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:msup><mml:mi>e</mml:mi><mml:mo>+</mml:mo></mml:msup><mml:msup><mml:mi>e</mml:mi><mml:mo>−</mml:mo></mml:msup><mml:mo>→</mml:mo><mml:msup><mml:mi>π</mml:mi><mml:mo>+</mml:mo></mml:msup><mml:msup><mml:mi>π</mml:mi><mml:mo>−</mml:mo></mml:msup><mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo><mml:mi>γ</mml:mi><mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo></mml:math>Cross Section with the Initial State Radiation Method at<i>BABAR</i>

A precise measurement of the cross section of the process e(+)e(-) --> pi(+)pi(-)(gamma) from threshold to an energy of 3 GeV is obtained with the initial state radiation (ISR) method using 232 fb(-1) of data collected with the BABAR detector at e(+)e(-) center-of-mass energies near 10.6 GeV. The ISR luminosity is determined from a study of the leptonic process e(+)e(-) --> mu(+)mu(-)gamma(gamma). The leading-order hadronic contribution to the muon magnetic anomaly calculated using the pipi cross section measured from threshold to 1.8 GeV is (514.1 +/- 2.2(stat) +/- 3.1(syst)) x 10(-10).