Measurement of the Beam Asymmetry $Sigma$ in the Forward Direction for pi0 Photoproduction

Photoproduction of neutral pions has been studied with the CBELSA/TAPS detector for photon energies between 0.92 and 1.68~GeV at the electron accelerator ELSA. The beam asymmetry~$Sigma$ has been extracted for $115^circ < theta_{rm c.m.} < 155^circ$ of the $pi^0$~meson and for $theta_{rm c.m.} < 60^circ$. The new beam asymmetry data improve the world database for photon energies above 1.5~GeV and, by covering the very forward region, extend previously published data for the same reaction by our collaboration. The angular dependence of $Sigma$ shows overall good agreement with the SAID parameterization.