Phenomenology of f0(980) photoproduction on the proton at energies measured with the CLAS facility

Abstract

In this work we present the results of a theoretical analysis of the data on photoproduction of the f₀(980) meson in the laboratory photon energy between 3.0 and 3.8 GeV. A comparison is done to the measurements performed by the CLAS Collaboration at the JLab accelerator for the exclusive reaction γp → pf₀(980). In the analysis the partial S-wave differential cross section is described by a model based on the Regge approach with reggeized exchanges and distinct scenarios for the f₀(980) → Vγ coupling considered. It is shown that such a process can provide information on the resonance structure and production mechanism.