From a muon-proton scattering experiment with a streamer chamber at the Stanford Linear Accelerator we present results in the ranges 0.3<Q2<4.7 GeV2 and 1.7<W<4.7 GeV for the reactions μ+p→μpV where V is a vector meson (ρ0, ω, or φ). It is shown that in ρ production the skewing parameter and the longitudinal-transverse ratio change significantly as Q2 increases above 1 GeV2. The cross section for ρ0 production as a function of Q2 falls below the vector-meson-dominance prediction. The ratio of the cross section for exclusive vector-meson production to the total cross section falls by a factor of 10 between photoproduction and a Q2 of 2 GeV2, yet the ratio of ω to ρ production remains constant at the photoproduction value out to Q2>2 GeV2.
OMEGA PRODUCTION COMPARED WITH RHO0 PRODUCTION.
The exclusive electroproduction of omega mesons, ep -> e omega p, has been studied in the kinematic range 3<Q^2<20 GeV^2, 40<W<120 GeV and |t|<0.6 GeV^2 with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 37.7 pb^{-1}. The omega mesons were identified via the decay omega -> pi^+pi^-pi^0. The exclusive (ep -> e omega p) cross section in the above kinematic region is 0.108 +- 0.014(stat.) +- 0.026(syst.) nb. The reaction ep -> e phi p, phi -> pi^+pi^-pi^0, has also been measured. The cross sections, as well as the cross-section ratios omega/rho and omega/phi, are presented as a function of W and Q^2. Thus, for the first time, the properties of omega electroproduction can be compared to those of rho^0, phi and J/psi electroproduction at high W.
The cross sections for OMEGA and PHI electroproduction.
Cross section as a function of W for exclusive OMEGA production.
The exclusive omega electroproduction off the proton was studied in a large kinematical domain above the nucleon resonance region and for the highest possible photon virtuality (Q2) with the 5.75 GeV beam at CEBAF and the CLAS spectrometer. Cross sections were measured up to large values of the four-momentum transfer (-t < 2.7 GeV2) to the proton. The contributions of the interference terms sigma_TT and sigma_TL to the cross sections, as well as an analysis of the omega spin density matrix, indicate that helicity is not conserved in this process. The t-channel pi0 exchange, or more generally the exchange of the associated Regge trajectory, seems to dominate the reaction gamma* p -> omega p, even for Q2 as large as 5 GeV2. Contributions of handbag diagrams, related to Generalized Parton Distributions in the nucleon, are therefore difficult to extract for this process. Remarkably, the high-t behaviour of the cross sections is nearly Q2-independent, which may be interpreted as a coupling of the photon to a point-like object in this kinematical limit.
Differential cross sections DSIG/DT for Q**2 = 2.371 GeV**2 and W = 1.85 GeV.
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