Near threshold electroproduction of the omega meson at Q2 ~ 0.5 GeV2

Electroproduction of the omega meson was investigated in the p(e,ep)omega reaction. The measurement was performed at a 4-momentum transfer Q2 ~ 0.5 GeV2. Angular distributions of the virtual photon-proton center-of-momentum cross sections have been extracted over the full angular range. These distributions exhibit a strong enhancement over t-channel parity exchange processes in the backward direction. According to a newly developed electroproduction model, this enhancement provides significant evidence of resonance formation in the gamma* p -> omega p reaction channel.