We investigate kaon photoproduction off the neutron target, i.e., $γn \to K^0 Λ$, focusing on the role of nucleon resonances given in the Review of Particle Data Group in the range of $\sqrt{s} \approx 1600 - 2200$ MeV. We employ an effective Lagrangian method and a Regge approach. The strong couplings of nucleon resonances with $KΛ$ vertices are constrained by quark model predictions. The numerical results of the total and differential cross sections are found to be in qualitative agreement with the recent CLAS and FOREST experimental data. We discuss the effects of the narrow nucleon resonance $N(1685,1/2^+)$ on both the total and differential cross sections near the threshold energy. In addition, we present the results of the beam asymmetry as a prediction.
We describe a new way to access the chiral odd transversity parton distribution in the proton through the photoproduction of lepton pairs on transversely polarized target. The basic ingredient is the interference of the Bethe Heitler or Drell-Yan amplitudes with the amplitude of a process, where the photon couples to quarks through its twist-2 chiral-odd distribution amplitude. This approach permits to scan experimentally the shape of the transversity distribution in a nucleon as well as the photon distribution amplitude.
We present results of a recent work on the reaction mechanism of $ηn$ photoproduction off the neutron in the range of $ \sqrt{s} \approx 1.5 - 1.9$ GeV and discuss the role of various nucleon resonances listed in the Particle Data Group (PDG). We make use of an effective Lagrangian approach combining with a Regge method. The total and helicity-dependent cross sections $σ_{1/2},\,σ_{3/2}$ are computed and the numerical results are in good agreement with the A2 experimental data.
We investigate $η$ photoproduction off the neutron target, i.e., $γn \to ηn$, employing an effective Lagrangian method combining with a Regge approach. As a background, we consider nucleon exchange in the $s$-channel diagram and $ρ$- and $ω$-meson Regge trajectories in the $t$ channel. The role of nucleon resonances given in the Review of Particle Data Group in the range of $W \approx 1500 - 2100$ MeV and the narrow nucleon resonance $N(1685,1/2^+)$ is extensively studied. The numerical results of the total and differential cross sections, double polarization observable $E$, and helicity-depen…
We investigate photoproduction of the scalar mesona off the nucleon, using the effective Lagrangians and the Regge approach. We first study $f_0(980)$ photoproduction, replacing the Feynman propagator with the Regge ones for the $ρ$-meson exchange in the $t$-channel. The model parameters are fixed by reproducing the experimental data on the differential cross section. We then apply the same method to $f_0(500)$ or $σ$ photoproduction with the same parameters for the Regge propagator. Since the threshold energy of the $f_0(500)$ production is rather low, $N^*$ resonances, which can decay into t…
The role of the nucleon resonances in the double polarization observables of pion photoproduction is investigated by using the resonance parameters predicted by Capstick and Roberts. As an example, we show that the not-well-determined two-star resonance N$^{-}_{3/2}$(1960) can be examined by performing experiments on beam-recoil polarization at large angles.
We study the reaction mechanism of K*Lambda(1116) photoproduction off the proton target near threshold considering the contributions from nucleon-resonances. Employing the effective Lagrangian method at the tree-level Born approximation, we investigate the role of the D13(2080) and the D15(2200). We found that the D13 plays a crucial role to reproduce the experimental data well in the forward scattering region at low energy. We also present theoretical predictions on the single photon-beam asymmetry as well as the energy and angular dependence for the cross sections of this reaction.
We describe a new way to access the chiral odd transversity parton distribution in the proton through the photoproduction of lepton pairs. The basic ingredient is the interference of the usual Bethe Heitler or Drell-Yan amplitudes with the amplitude of a process, where the photon couples to quarks through its chiral-odd distribution amplitude, which is normalized to the magnetic susceptibility of the QCD vacuum. A promising phenomenology of single and double spin observables emerges from the unusual features of this amplitude.
We investigate the reaction mechanism of $K^0 Λ$ photoproduction off the neutron target, i.e., $γn \to K^0 Λ$, in the range of $W\approx 1.6-2.2$ GeV. We employ an effective Lagrangian method at the tree-level Born approximation combining with a Regge approach. As a background, the $K^*$-Reggeon trajectory is taken into account in the $t$ channel and $Λ$ and $Σ$ hyperons in the $u$-channel Feynman diagram. In addition, the role of various nucleon resonances listed in the Particle Data Group (PDG) is carefully scrutinized in the $s$ channel where the resonance parameters are extracted from the …
Revised analysis of Sigma beam asymmetry for eta photoproduction off the free proton from GRAAL is presented. New analysis reveals a narrow structure near W ~1.685 GeV. We describe this structure by the contribution of a narrow resonance with quantum numbers P_{11}, or P_{13}, or D_{13}. Being considered together with the recent observations of a bump-like structure at W~1.68 GeV in the quasi-free eta photoproduction off the neutron, this result provides an evidence for a narrow (Gamma < 25 MeV) N*(1685) resonance. Properties of this possible new nucleon state, namely the mass, the narrow widt…
We reinvestigate $K^*Λ(1116)$ photoproduction off the nucleon target, based on an effective Lagrangian approach. We include higher nucleon resonances such as $N(2000)\, 5/2^+$, $N(2060)\,5/2^-$, $N(2120)\,3/2^-$, and $N(2190)\,7/2^-$, of which the data are taken from the 2012 edition of Review of Paritcle Physics, in addition to the $t$-channel diagrams ($K$, $K^*$, and $κ$), the $s$-channel nucleon, and $u$-channel hyperon($Λ$, $Σ$, and $Σ^*$) contributions. We find that the $N(2120)\,3/2^-$ and $N(2190)\,7/2^-$ resonances are essential in describing the new CLAS data for charged $K^*$ photop…
The polarization observables in phi photoproduction are suggested for probing the nucleon strangeness. Based on models for phi photoproduction, some double polarization observables are shown to be very sensitive to the strangeness content of the proton because of the different spin structures of the amplitudes associated with different mechanisms.
In this paper, we develop a general framework to study the meson-photoproductions of nucleons in the chiral quark model. The S and U channel resonance contributions are expressed in terms of the Chew-Goldberger-Low-Nambu (CGLN) amplitudes. The kaon-photoproduction processes, $γp\to K^+ Λ$, $γp\to K^+ Σ^0$, and $γp\to K^0Σ^+$, are calculated. The initial results show that the quark model provides a much improved description of the reaction mechanism for the kaon-photoproductions of the nucleon with less parameters than the traditional phenomenological approaches.
We investigate the influence of new GRAAL Sigma-beam asymmetry measurements on the neutron in multipole fits to the single-pion photoproduction database. Results are compared to those found with the addition of a double-polarization quantity associated with the sum rule.
By using the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn (GDH) sum rule and an isobaric model of kaon photoproduction, we calculate contributions of kaon-hyperon final states to the magnetic moment of the proton and the neutron. We find that the contributions are small. The approximation of sigma_{TT'} by sigma_{T} clearly overestimates the value of the GDH integral. We find a smaller upper bound for the contributions of kaon-hyperon final states to the proton's anomalous magnetic moment in kaon photoproduction, and a positive contribution for the square of the neutron's magnetic moment.
Final state hyperon-nucleon interaction in strangeness photoproduction of the deuteron is investigated making use of the covariant reaction formalism and the P-matrix approach to the YN system. Remarkably simple analytical expression for the amplitude is obtained. Pronounced effects due to final state interaction are predicted including the manifestation of the 2.13 GeV resonance.
The isobar model EtaMAID has been updated with new and high precision data for eta and etaprime photoproduction on protons and neutrons from MAMI, ELSA, GRAAL and CLAS. The background is described in a recently developed Regge-cut model, and for the resonance part the whole list of nucleon resonances has been investigated with 21 N* states contributing to eta photoproduction and 12 N* states contributing to etaprime photoproduction. A new approach is discussed to avoid double counting in the overlap region of Regge and resonances. A comparison is done among four newly updated partial waves ana…
The role of the nucleon resonances ($N^*$) in $ω$ photoproduction is investigated by using the resonance parameters predicted by Capstick and Roberts. The contributions from the nucleon resonances are found to be significant in various spin asymmetries. In particular, we found that a crucial test of our predictions can be made by measuring the parity asymmetry and beam-target double asymmetry at forward scattering angles.
We argue that the STAR data on $J/ψ$ photoproduction in $d+Au$ ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) at the momentum transfer $t \neq 0$ primarily probes elastic and possibly nucleon-dissociative $J/ψ$ photoproduction on quasi-free nucleons, while being essentially insensitive to expectedly weak nuclear modifications of the gluon distribution in the deuteron. Analyzing the STAR detector capabilities for selection of UPC events, we explore the possibility that the contribution of nucleon-dissociative $J/ψ$ photoproduction is negligibly small and obtain a very good description of the $t$ dependence …
We analyze the $γN\toπN$ process in the negative parity channel with Hamiltonian effective filed theory which is successful in studying the nucleon resonances associated with the meson-nucleon scattering and lattice QCD simulations. We provide the scattering amplitude of pion photoproduction and extract the electric dipole amplitudes $E_{0+}$. The triquark component in $N^*(1535)$ is important for improving the consistence between our results and the experimental data.
We investigate the reaction mechanism of the $ϕ$-meson photoproduction off the proton target, i.e., $γp\toϕp$, up to $\sqrt{s}=2.8$ GeV. For this purpose, we employ an effective Lagrangian approach in the tree-level Born approximation, and we employ various experimental and theoretical inputs. As a theoretical setup, the vectorlike Pomeron ($C=+1$) is taken into account as a parameterized two-gluon exchange contribution. We also consider $f_1(1285)$ axial-vector-meson, ($π,η$) pseudoscalar-meson, and ($a_0,f_0$) scalar-meson exchanges in the $t$ channel, in addition to the experimentally confi…
Pronounced effects due to final state hyperon-nucleon interaction are predicted in strangeness photoproduction reaction on the deuteron. Use is made of the covariant reaction formalism and the P- matrix approach to the hyperon-nucleon interaction.
We investigate the $η'$ photoproduction off the nucleon with a particular interest in the effect of the final-state interaction (FSI) of the $η'$ meson and nucleon $(η'N)$ based on three-flavor linear sigma model. We find an enhancement in the cross section of the $η'$ photoproduction near the $η'N$-threshold energy owing to the $η'N$ FSI. With the $η'$ meson at forward angles, the energy dependence near the $η'N$ threshold is well reproduced with the $η'N$ FSI. The cross section at backward angles can also be a good probe to investigate the strength of the $η'N$ interaction.
We present an overview of the GW SAID group effort to analyze on new pion photoproduction on both proton- and neutron-targets. The main database contribution came from the recent CLAS and MAMI unpolarized and polarized measurements. The differential cross section for the processes gamma n --> pi- p was extracted from new measurements accounting for Fermi motion effects in the impulse approximation (IA) as well as NN and piN effects beyond the IA. The EM coupling results are compared to other recent studies.
We argue that the reaction mechanism for the coherent pion production is not known with sufficient accuracy to determine the neutron radius of 208Pb to the claimed precision of 0.03 fm.
It is shown that within a truncated partial wave analysis for photoproduction of two pseudoscalar mesons, it is possible to halve the number of independent partial amplitudes by taking into account parity conservation. In addition, within the framework of the proposed formalism, one can rather easily resolve the double discrete ambiguity arising from the symmetry under complex conjugation of the helicity amplitudes. This leads to essential simplifications of the complete experiment problem, at least as far as mathematical aspects are concerned.
We study $η$ photoproduction off the deuteron ($γd\toηpn$) at a special kinematics: $\sim 0.94$ GeV of the photon beam energy and $\sim 0^\circ$ of the scattering angle of the proton. This kinematics is ideal to extract the low-energy $η$-nucleon scattering parameters such as $a_{ηN}$ (scattering length) and $r_{ηN}$ (effective range) because the $η$-nucleon elastic scattering is significantly enhanced. We show that if a ratio $R$, the $γd\toηpn$ cross section divided by the $γp\toηp$ cross section convoluted with the proton momentum distribution in the deuteron, is measured with 5% error, ${\…
The new experimental data of kaon photoproduction on the nucleon, gamma p -> K+ Lambda, have been analyzed by means of a multipoles model. Different from the previous models, in this analysis the resonance decay widths are constrained to the values given by the Particle Data Group (PDG). The result indicates that constraining these parameters to the PDG values could dramatically change the conclusion of the important resonances in this reaction found in the previous studies.
By using the theoretical approaches describing well the available data on $t$-integrated coherent photoproduction of light and heavy vector mesons in Pb-Pb ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Run 1, we calculate the momentum transfer distributions for this process for $ρ$ and $J/ψ$ vector mesons in the kinematics of Run 2 at the LHC. We demonstrate that nuclear shadowing not only suppresses the absolute value of the cross sections, but also shifts the momentum transfer distributions toward smaller values of the momentum transfer $|t|$. This result can be int…
The importance of Born terms and resonance exchange for eta and eta-prime photoproduction off both the proton and neutron within U(3) baryon chiral perturbation theory is investigated. Low-lying resonances such as the vector mesons and J^P= 1/2^+, 1/2^- baryon resonances are included explicitly and their contributions together with the Born terms are calculated. The coupling constants of the resonances are determined from strong and radiative decays. We obtain reasonable agreement with experimental data near threshold.
We consider photoproduction of $ω$ mesons off complex nuclei to study interactions of transversely and longitudinally polarized vector mesons with nucleons. Whereas the total cross section for interactions of the transversely polarized vector mesons with nucleons $σ_T=σ(V_TN)$ can be obtained from coherent photoproduction, measurements of vector meson photoproduction in the incoherent region provide a unique opportunity to extract the total cross section for longitudinally polarized mesons interacting with nucleons $σ_L=σ(V_LN)$, which has not yet been measured and strongly depends on theoreti…
We study the photoproduction of $K^*(892)$ vector meson from both the charged and neutral reactions, $γp \to K^{*+} Λ$ and $γn \to K^{*0} Λ$. The production mechanisms that we consider include $t$-channel $K^*$, $K$, $κ$ exchanges, s-channel nucleon diagram, and $u$-channel $Λ$, $Σ$, $Σ^*$ diagrams. These could constitute important backgrounds for future investigation of ``missing'' resonances that can be searched for especially in these reactions. The $t$-channel $K$ meson exchange is found to dominate both reactions. The total and differential cross sections are presented together with some …
Using J/psi and open charm photoproduction data, we apply the vector meson dominance model to obtain constraints on the energy dependence of the inelastic J/psi-nucleon cross section. Predictions of short distance QCD are in accord with these constraints, while recently proposed hadronic models for J/psi dissociation strongly violate them.
We derive an analytic expression for the Kroll-Ruderman amplitude up to the order 1/N_C for general Skyrme-type models of the nucleon. Due to the degeneracy of intermediate N- and Delta-states we find deviations from the standard low-energy theorem for the photoproduction of neutral pions.
New kaon photoproduction data on a proton, gamma + p --> K+ + Lambda, are analyzed using a multipole approach. The background terms are given in terms of gauge invariant, crossing symmetric, Born diagrams with hadronic form factors, while the resonances are parameterized using Breit-Wigner forms. Preliminary results suggest a number of new resonances, as predicted by many quark model studies. A comparison between the extracted multipoles and those obtained from KAON-MAID is presented.
We develop a reaction model for $η$ photoproduction off the deuteron ($γd\toηpn$), and study the reaction at a special kinematics, where the photon beam energy is $\sim 0.94$ GeV and the scattered proton is detected at $\sim 0^\circ$, for the purpose of determining the $η$-nucleon scattering length ($a_{ηN}$) and effective range ($r_{ηN}$). In this kinematics, the $η$-nucleon elastic rescattering is significantly enhanced while other background mechanisms being suppressed. We show that a ratio $R$, the $γd\toηpn$ cross section divided by the $γp\toηp$ cross section convoluted with the proton m…
Using short distance QCD methods based on the operator product expansion, we calculate the $J/ψ$ photoproduction cross section in terms of the gluon distribution function of the nucleon. Comparing the result with data, we show that experimental behaviour of the cross section correctly reflects the $x$-dependence of the gluon distribution obtained from deep inelastic scattering.
In two meson photoproduction off a nucleon, for the case in which two of the three final state hadrons are products of the decay of an intermediate resonance, general expressions for its decay distribution and for polarization observables are derived in a model independent way. These are functions of either the spin density matrix elements (SDME's) or statistical tensors of the resonance, and the angles of its decay products. The expressions are general enough that it also describes cases where more than one resonance of arbitrary quantum numbers contributes, including interference effects. Th…
Two new sum rules are derived relating Dirac radii and anomalous magnetic moments of the considered strongly interacting fermions with the convergent integral over a difference of the total proton and neutron, as well as $He^3$ and $H^3$, photoproduction cross-sections.
Photoproduction of mesons is an excellent tool for the study of nucleon resonances. Complementary to pion induced reactions, photoproduction on the free proton contributes to the determination of the basic properties of nucleon resonances like excitation energy, decay widths, spin, and the coupling to the photon. Photoproduction from light nuclei, in particular from the deuteron, reveals the isospin structure of the electromagnetic excitation of the nucleon. During the last few years, progress in this field has been substantial. New accelerator facilities combined with state-of-the-art detecto…
In this paper, we show that the low energy theorem (LET) of the threshold pion-photoproduction can be fully recovered in the quark model. An essential result of this investigation is that the quark-pion operators are obtained from the effective chiral Lagrangian, and the low energy theorem does not require the constraints on the internal structures of the nucleon. The pseudoscalar quark-pion coupling generates an additional term at order $μ=m_π/M$ only in the isospin amplitude $A^{(-)}$. The role of the transitions between the nucleon and the resonance $P_{33}(1232)$ and P-wave baryons are als…
The photoproduction reaction $γN \to K K Ξ$ is investigated based on a relativistic meson-exchange model of hadronic interactions. The production amplitude is calculated in the tree-level approximation from relevant effective Lagrangians, whose (coupling constant) parameters are mostly fixed from the empirical data and/or quark models together with SU(3) symmetry considerations. Gauge invariance of the resulting amplitude is maintained by introducing the contact currents by extending the gauge-invariant approach of Haberzettl for one-meson photoproduction to two-meson photoproduction. The role…
We investigate threshold pion photoproduction in the framework of heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory. We give the expansion of the electric dipole amplitude $E_{0+}$ to three orders in $μ$, the ratio of the pion to nucleon mass, and show that it is slowly converging. We argue that this observable is not a good testing ground for the chiral dynamics of QCD. In contrast, we exhibit new and fastly converging low--energy theorems in the P--waves which should be used to constrain the data analysis. We also discuss the importance of polarization observables to accurately pin down certain multip…
The role of the nucleon resonances ($N^*$) in $ω$ photoproduction is investigated by using the resonance parameters predicted by Capstick and Roberts [Phys. Rev. D {\bf 46}, 2864 (1992); {\bf 49}, 4570 (1994)]. In contrast with the previous investigations based on the ${SU}(6) \times {O}(3)$ limit of the constituent quark model, the employed $N^* \to γN$ and $N^* \to ωN$ amplitudes include the configuration mixing effects due to the residual quark-quark interactions. The contributions from the nucleon resonances are found to be significant relative to the non-resonant amplitudes in changing th…
We investigate $ϕ$ meson photoproduction on the nucleon and the \nuclide[4]{He} targets within a dynamical model approach based on a Hamiltonian which describes the production mechanisms by the Pomeron-exchange, meson-exchanges, $ϕ$ radiations, and nucleon resonance excitations mechanisms. The final $ϕN$ interactions are included being described by the gluon-exchange, direct $ϕN$ couplings, and the box-diagrams arising from the couplings with $πN$, $ρN$, $KΛ$, and $KΣ$ channels. The parameters of the Hamiltonian are determined by the experimental data of $γp \to ϕp$ from the CLAS Collaboration…
Photoproduction of the pentaquark particle Theta^+ on the nucleon has been studied by using an isobar and a Regge model. Using the isobar model, total cross sections around 100 nb for the gamma n --> K- Theta+ channel and 400 nb for the gamma p --> {\bar K}0 Theta+ process are obtained. The inclusion of the K* intermediate state yields a substantially large effect, especially in the gamma p --> {\bar K}0 Theta+ process. The Regge approach predicts smaller cross sections, i.e., less than 100 nb (20 nb) for the process on the neutron (proton). By using an elementary operator from the isobar mode…
The polarization observables in phi meson photoproduction is studied to probe the strangeness content of the nucleon. In addition to the dominant diffractive production and the one-pion-exchange process, we take into account the direct knockout mechanism that arises from the possible hidden strangeness content of the nucleon. We find that some double polarization observables are very sensitive to the strangeness content of the proton because of the different spin structures of the amplitudes associated with different mechanisms. This suggests that such measurements could be very useful in prob…
Pion-photoproduction data is examined to check for the nucleon-helicity conservation predicted by asymptotic QCD. The differential cross section shows agreement with constituent-counting rules, and polarization data is not in disagreement with conservation of nucleon helicity. However large uncertainties in the polarization measurements do not allow a conclusive statement. The helicity amplitudes from a partial-wave analysis are also examined for helicity conservation. While the amplitudes become small as $s$ increases, the $s$ dependence of the helicity-conserving amplitudes is similar to the…
The photo- and electroproduction of eta, eta-prime mesons on nucleons are investigated within a relativistic chiral unitary approach based on coupled channels. The s-wave potentials for electroproduction and meson-baryon scattering are derived from a chiral effective Lagrangian which includes the eta-prime as an explicit degree of freedom and incorporates important features of the underlying QCD Lagrangian such as the axial U(1) anomaly. The effective potentials are iterated in a Bethe-Salpeter equation and cross sections for eta, eta-prime photo- and electroproduction from nucleons are obtain…
We calculate electromagnetic neutral pion production off tri-nucleon bound states (3H, 3He) at threshold in chiral nuclear effective field theory to fourth order in the standard heavy baryon counting. We show that the fourth order two-nucleon corrections to the S-wave multipoles at threshold are very small. This implies that a precise measurement of the S-wave cross section for neutral pion production off 3He allows for a stringent test of the chiral perturbation theory prediction for the S-wave electric multipole E_{0+}^{pi0 n}.
Pion electro- and photoproduction off the nucleon close to threshold is studied in covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory at O($p^3$) in the extended-on-mass-shell scheme, with the explicit inclusion of the $Δ(1232)$ resonance. The relevant low energy constants are fixed by fitting the available experimental data with the theoretical model. The inclusion of the $Δ$ resonance as an explicit degree of freedom substantially improves the agreement with data and the convergence of the model.
The reaction mechanisms for $KΣ(1385)$ photoproduction from the reaction $γp \to K^+Σ^{0}(1385)$ in the resonance energy region are investigated in a hadronic model. Both contributions from $N$ and $Δ$ resonances of masses around 2 GeV as given in the Review of Particle Data Group and by the quark model predictions are included. The Lagrangians for describing the decays of these resonances into $KΣ(1385)$ are constructed with the coupling constants determined from the decay amplitudes predicted by a quark model. Comparing the resulting total cross section for the reaction $γp \to K^+Σ^{0}(1385…
We present a new version of the EtaMAID model for $η$ and $η'$ photoproduction on nucleons. The model includes 23 nucleon resonances parameterized with Breit-Wigner shapes. The background is described by vector and axial-vector meson exchanges in the $t$ channel using the Regge cut phenomenology. Parameters of the resonances were obtained from a fit to available experimental data for $η$ and $η'$ photoproduction on protons and neutrons. The nature of the most interesting observations in the data is discussed.
Using the general notion of cross section fluctuations in hadron--nucleus scattering at high energies, we derive an expression for the cross section of incoherent $J/ψ$ photoproduction on heavy nuclei $dσ_{γA \to J/ψY}/dt$, which includes both elastic $dσ_{γp \to J/ψp}/dt$ and proton-dissociation $dσ_{γp \to J/ψY}/dt$ photoproduction on target nucleons. We find that with good accuracy, $dσ_{γA \to J/ψY}/dt$ can be expressed as a product of the sum of the $dσ_{γp \to J/ψp}/dt$ and $dσ_{γp \to J/ψY}/dt$ cross sections, which have been measured at HERA, and the common nuclear shadowing factor, wh…
We present a detailed phenomenological study of photoproduction of two hadrons, both with high transverse momentum, in longitudinally polarized lepton-nucleon collisions. We consistently include ``direct'' and ``resolved'' photon contributions and examine the sensitivity of the relevant spin asymmetries to the gluon polarization in the nucleon and to the completely unknown parton content of circularly polarized photons. Our results are relevant for the COMPASS and HERMES fixed-target experiments as well as for a possible future polarized lepton-proton collider like eRHIC at BNL. So far, all st…
We present a relativistic dynamical model of pion photoproduction on the nucleon in the resonance region. It offers several advances over the existing approaches. The model is obtained by extending our $πN$-scattering description to the electromagnetic channels. The resulting photopion amplitude is thus unitary in the $πN$, $\ga N$ channel space, Watson's theorem is exactly satisfied. At this stage we have included the pion, nucleon, $\De(1232)$-resonance degrees of freedom. The $ρ$ and $ω$ meson exchanges are also included, but play a minor role in the considered energy domain (up to $\sqrt{s…
