Upper Limit on the Photoproduction Cross Section of the Spin-Exotic 𝜋1⁡(1600) Upper Limit on the Photoproduction Cross Section of the Spin-Exotic 𝜋1⁡(1600)

The spin-exotic hybrid meson 𝜋1⁡(1600) is predicted to have a large decay rate to the 𝜔⁢𝜋⁢𝜋 final state. Using 76.6  pb−1 of data collected with the GlueX detector, we measure the cross sections for the reactions 𝛾⁢𝑝→𝜔⁢𝜋+⁢𝜋−⁢𝑝, 𝛾⁢𝑝→𝜔⁢𝜋0⁢𝜋0⁢𝑝, and 𝛾⁢𝑝 →𝜔⁢𝜋−⁢𝜋0⁢Δ++ in the range 𝐸𝛾=8–10  GeV. Using isospin conservation, we set the first upper limits on the photoproduction cross sections of the 𝜋01⁡(1600) and 𝜋−1⁡(1600). We combine these limits with lattice calculations of decay widths and find that photoproduction of 𝜂′⁢𝜋 is the most sensitive two-body system to search for the 𝜋1⁡(1600).