Measurement of T-Dependence of the Beam Asymmetry (S) for the Reaction yp --> n'p AT GLUEX
We report on a measurement of the four-momentum transfer (-t) dependence of the Beam Asymmetry (Sigma) for the reaction yp --> n'p with the linearly polarized photon beam at GlueX. The observable is sensitive to the n' production mechanism. The Beam Asymmetry (Sigma) was extracted from azimuthal angular distributions (phi) combined to obtain yield asymmetries. This technique removes most contributions from instrumental asymmetries. These data are based on a data set that is five times more extensive than previous measurements. This allowed us to double the kinematic reach in the four-momentum transfer squared (-t) and reduce the statistical uncertainties. Up to a four-momentum transfer squared (-t) of 1.7 GeV2, the beam asymmetry is positive, close to unity, and shows little dependence on the four-momentum transfer -t. This indicates that the production process continues to be dominated by exchanges of the rho (p) and the omega (w) mesons. Further systematic cross-check was done by analyzing the decay mode nr^0r^0. This analysis also revealed positive asymmetries closer to unity providing an important systematic cross-check for the results obtained using n'-->nr+r-.