Charge-exchange vector-meson production

We present an analysis of the six charge-exchange vector-meson production reactions π^-p→ρ⁰n, π⁺n→ρ⁰p, π^-p→ω⁰n, π⁺n→ω⁰p, K^-p→K̄*0n, and K⁺n→K̄*0p using Regge-pole plus absorption models and SU(3). Our aim is to understand what existing data imply about these models and to predict and discuss the behavior of as-yet-unmeasured observables. We discuss in detail the amounts of s-channel helicity-nonflip, -flip, and -double-flip absorption required to fit the data. Such topics as the line-reversal breaking in K*0 and K̄*0 production, the status of the ρ wrong-signature nonsense zero in ω⁰ production, and the nature of A₁ exchange are discussed. The electromagnetic mixing of the ρ⁰ and ω⁰ meson provides a powerful tool for probing the nature of strong-interaction production amplitudes, and examinations of the effects of ρ⁰-ω⁰ mixing on the π⁺π^- mass spectra and on isospin violations in ω⁰ productions are included. We find that some of the new absorption models are capable of explaining many features in ρ⁰ and ω⁰ production and that one is able to predict correctly [using SU(3)] the observables for K*0 and K̄*0 production including the line-reversal breaking. The models have problems in predicting the correct energy dependences of ρ₀₀Hdσdt and ρ₊Hdσdt for ρ⁰ production, and have some difficulties in explaining the recent ρ-ω interference data at 4.0 GeV/c, which show a spike at the ω⁰ mass of the observable ρ₊Hdσdtdm(π^-p→(π⁺π^-)n).