Photoproduction of the<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>ω</mml:mi></mml:math>Meson on the Proton at Large Momentum Transfer

Abstract

The differential cross section, dsigma/dt, for omega meson exclusive photoproduction on the proton above the resonance region (2.6<W<2.9 GeV) was measured up to a momentum transfer -t=5 GeV2 using the CLAS detector at Jefferson Laboratory. The omega channel was identified by detecting a proton and pi(+) in the final state and using the missing mass technique. While the low momentum transfer region shows the typical diffractive pattern expected from Pomeron and Reggeon exchange, at large -t the differential cross section has a flat behavior. This feature can be explained by introducing quark interchange processes in addition to the QCD-inspired two-gluon exchange.