η Meson Photoproduction with the GlueX Experiment

Studies of the production and decay of the η meson in photoproduction offer a wide range of physics opportunities: these include constraining models of hadronic photoproduction, dark sector boson searches, precision tests of QCD effective theories, and tests of fundamental symmetries. GlueX, a high-intensity photoproduction experiment located at Hall D of Jefferson Lab, offers a large and clean sample of η mesons off the proton. We present results for cross sections of η photoproduction at E_γ = 6-11 GeV and find consistent results using the decay modes η→γγ, π⁺π^-π⁰, and π⁰π⁰π⁰. When studied as a function of Mandelstam |t|, these cross sections can constrain models describing η production in terms of t-channel Reggeon exchange. Such measurements inform future searches for exotic hybrid mesons and serve as a benchmark for the Jefferson Lab Eta Factory, a future upgrade to the existing GlueX facility.