High-statistics differential cross sections and spin density matrix elements for the reaction $\gamma p \to p \omega$ have been measured using the CLAS at Jefferson Lab for center-of-mass (CM) energies from threshold up to 2.84 GeV. Results are reported in 112 10-MeV wide CM energy bins, each subdivided into $\cos{\theta_{CM}^{\omega}}$ bins of width 0.1. These are the most precise and extensive $\omega$ photoproduction measurements to date. A number of prominent structures are clearly present in the data. Many of these have not previously been observed due to limited statistics in earlier measurements.
Differential cross section for the W range 1.93 to 1.94 GeV.
We have studied ω photoproduction using 7.5- to 10.5-GeV tagged photons. Cross sections from hydrogen lie 22% below the bubble chamber results of Ballam et al., but have a similar slope. Density matrices indicate approximate s-channel helicity conservation. The proton-neutron cross-section difference is midway between zero and the value suggested by the γp−γn total-cross-section difference. Fits to the cross sections for D, Be, and Cu and those for Be, C, Al, Cu, and Pb from a previous experiment yield σωN=25.4±2.7 mb and γω24π=7.6±1.2.