The γp→π0p reaction was studied at laboratory photon energies from 425 to 1445 MeV with a transversely polarized target and a longitudinally polarized beam. The beam-target asymmetry F was measured for the first time and new high precision data for the target asymmetry T were obtained. The experiment was performed at the photon tagging facility of the Mainz Microtron (MAMI) using the Crystal Ball and TAPS photon spectrometers. The polarized cross sections were expanded in terms of associated Legendre functions and compared to recent predictions from several partial-wave analyses. The impact of the new data on our understanding of the underlying partial-wave amplitudes and baryon resonance contributions is discussed.
Target asymmetry T for c.m. energy W= 1.3062 GeV
Target asymmetry T for c.m. energy W= 1.3275 GeV
Target asymmetry T for c.m. energy W= 1.3486 GeV
Differential cross sections for the gamma p -> pi^0 p reaction have been measured with the A2 tagged-photon facilities at the Mainz Microtron, MAMI C, up to the center-of-mass energy W=1.9 GeV. The new results, obtained with a fine energy and angular binning, increase the existing quantity of pi^0 photoproduction data by ~47%. Owing to the unprecedented statistical accuracy and the full angular coverage, the results are sensitive to high partial-wave amplitudes. This is demonstrated by the decomposition of the differential cross sections in terms of Legendre polynomials and by further comparison to model predictions. A new solution of the SAID partial-wave analysis obtained after adding the new data into the fit is presented.
Run 1. Total cross section as a function of c.m. energy W.
Excitation function at cos(Theta_eta)= -0.967
Excitation function at cos(Theta_eta)= -0.900
A precision measurement of the differential cross sections $d\sigma/d\Omega$ and the linearly polarized photon asymmetry $\Sigma \equiv (d\sigma_\perp - d\sigma_\parallel) \slash (d\sigma_\perp + d\sigma_\parallel)$ for the $\vec{\gamma} p \rightarrow \pi^0p$ reaction in the near-threshold region has been performed with a tagged photon beam and almost $4\pi$ detector at the Mainz Microtron. The Glasgow-Mainz photon tagging facility along with the Crystal Ball/TAPS multi-photon detector system and a cryogenic liquid hydrogen target were used. These data allowed for a precise determination of the energy dependence of the real parts of the $S$- and all three $P$-wave amplitudes for the first time and provide the most stringent test to date of the predictions of Chiral Perturbation Theory and its energy region of agreement with experiment.
Differential cross section at W=1.0752268 GeV
Differential cross section at W=1.0773190 GeV
Differential cross section at W=1.0793464 GeV
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