Polarization transfer in wide-angle Compton scattering and single-pion photoproduction from the proton

Wide-angle exclusive Compton scatteringand single-pion photoproduction from the proton have been investigated via measurement of the polarization transfer from a circularly polarized photon beam to the recoil proton. The WACS polarization transfer was analyzed at an incident photon energy of 3.7 GeV at a proton scattering angle of θPcm = 70°. The longitudinal transfer KLL, measured to be 0.645 ± 0.059 ± 0.048, where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic, has the same sign as predicted for the reaction mechanism in which the photon interacts with a single quark carrying the spin of the proton. However, the observed value is ~3 times larger than predicted by the GPD-based calculations, which indicates a significant unknown contribution to the scattering amplitude.