Hard exclusive production of tensor mesons

Abstract

We point out that hard exclusive production of tensor mesons f(2)(1270) with helicity lambda = +/-2 is dominated by the gluon component in the meson wave function and can be used to determine gluon admixture in tenser mesons in a theoretically clean manner. We present a detailed analysis of the tenser meson distribution amplitudes and calculate the transition form factor gamma + gamma* --> f(2)(1270) for one real and one virtual photon. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.