Neutral pion photoproduction at high energies

A Regge model with absorptive corrections is employed in a global analysis of the world data on the reactions γ p → π0 p and γ n → π 0 n for photon energies from 3 to 18GeV. In this region resonance contributions are expected to be negligible so that the available experimental information on differential cross-sections and single and double polarization observables at - t 2 GeV2allows us to determine the reaction amplitude reliably. The model amplitude is then used to predict observables for photon energies below 3GeV. A detailed comparison with recent data from the CLAS and CB-ELSA Collaborations in that energy region is presented. Furthermore, the prospects for determining the π0 radiative decay width via the Primakoff effect from the reaction γ p → π 0 p are explored. © 2009 SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.A. Sibirtsev, J. Haidenbauer, S. Krewald, U. -G. Meißner and A. W. Thoma