Photoproduction of η mesons off the proton for 1.2 < Eγ < 4.7 GeV using CLAS at Jefferson Laboratory

Photoproduction cross sections are reported for the reaction gamma p -> p eta using energy-tagged photons and the CLAS spectrometer at Jefferson Laboratory. The eta mesons are detected in their dominant charged decay mode, eta -> pi(+)pi(-) pi(0), and results on differential cross sections are presented for incident photon energies between 1.2 and 4.7 GeV. These new eta photoproduction data are consistent with earlier CLAS results but extend the energy range beyond the nucleon resonance region into the Regge regime. The normalized angular distributions are also compared with the experimental results from several other experiments, and with predictions of eta-MAID 2018 and the latest solution of the Bonn-Gatchina coupled-channel analysis. Differential cross sections d sigma / dt are presented for incident photon energies E gamma > 2.9 GeV (W > 2.5 GeV), and compared with predictions which are based on Regge trajectories exchange in the t -channel (Regge models). The data confirm the expected dominance of rho, omega vector-meson exchange in an analysis by the Joint Physics Analysis Center.