Measurement of the beam asymmetry Σ and the target asymmetry T in the photoproduction of ω mesons off the proton using CLAS at Jefferson Laboratory

The photoproduction of ω mesons off the proton has been studied in the reaction γp → p ω using the CEBAF\ud Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) and the frozen-spin target in Hall B at the Thomas Jefferson National\ud Accelerator Facility. For the first time, the target asymmetry T has been measured in photoproduction from the\ud decay ω → π+π−π0, using a transversely polarized target with energies ranging from just above the reaction\ud threshold up to 2.8 GeV. Significant nonzero values are observed for these asymmetries, reaching about 30–40%\ud in the third-resonance region. New measurements for the photon-beam asymmetry Σ are also presented, which\ud agree well with previous CLAS results and extend the world database up to 2.1 GeV. These data and additional\ud ω photoproduction observables from CLAS were included in a partial-wave analysis within the Bonn-Gatchina\ud framework. Significant contributions from s-channel resonance production were found in addition to t-channel\ud exchange processes.