On the $\eta$ and ${\eta }^{\prime }$ Photoproduction Beam Asymmetry at High Energies

Abstract

We show that, in the Regge limit, beam asymmetries in $\eta$ and ${\eta }^{\prime }$ photoproduction are sensitive to hidden strangeness components. Under reasonable assumptions about the couplings we estimate the contribution of the $\varphi$ Regge pole, which is expected to be the dominant hidden strangeness contribution. The ratio of the asymmetries in ${\eta }^{\prime }$ and $\eta$ production is estimated to be close to unity in the forward region $0<-t/{\text{GeV}}^2\le 1$ at the photon energy $E_{\text{lab}}=9$~GeV, relevant for the upcoming measurements at Jefferson Lab.

Comments: 9 pages, 4 figures