Anomalous f(1) exchange in vector meson photoproduction asymmetries - art.no. 017504

We perform an analysis of the elastic production of vector mesons with pola rized photon beams at high energy in order to investigate the validity of a recently proposed dynamical mechanism based on the dominance of the f(1) t rajectory at large momentum transfer. The density matrix characterizing the angular distributions of the vector meson decays is calculated within an e xchange model which includes the Pomeron and the f(1). The asymmetries of t hese decays turn out to be very useful to disentangle the role of these exc hanges since their effect depends crucially on their quantum numbers which are different. The observables analyzed are accessible with present experim ental facilities.