  The PHENIX experiment has measured the dielectron continuum in sqrt{s_NN} =
200 GeV Au+Au collisions. In minimum bias collisions the dielectron yield in
the mass range between 150 and 750 MeV/c^2 is enhanced by a factor of 3.4 +/-
0.2(stat.) +/- 1.3(syst.) +/- 0.7(model) compared to the expectation from our
model of hadron decays. The integrated yield increases faster with the
centrality of the collisions than the number of participating nucleons,
suggesting emission from scattering processes in the hot and dense medium. The
continuum yield between the masses of the phi and the J/psi mesons is
consistent with expectations from correlated c-cbar production, though other
mechanisms are not ruled out.
