Exclusive ρ0 meson electroproduction from hydrogen at CLAS

Abstract The longitudinal and transverse components of the cross section for the e p → e ′ p ρ 0 reaction were measured in Hall B at Jefferson Laboratory using the CLAS detector. The data were taken with a 4.247 GeV electron beam and were analyzed in a range of x B from 0.2 to 0.6 and of Q 2 from 1.5 to 3.0 GeV 2 . The data are compared to a Regge model based on effective hadronic degrees of freedom and to a calculation based on Generalized Parton Distributions. It is found that, at our lowest x B values, the transverse part of the cross section is well described by the former approach while the longitudinal part can be reproduced by the latter.