Study of e+e- --> omega pi0 --> pi0 pi0 gamma in the energy range 1.05--2.00 GeV with SND

Abstract

The cross section for the process e+e- --> omega pi0 --> pi0 pi0 gamma has been measured in the energy range 1.05--2.00 GeV. The experiment has been performed at the e+e- collider VEPP-2000 with the SND detector. The measured e+e- --> omega pi0 cross section above 1.4 GeV is the most accurate to date. Below 1.4 GeV our data are in good agreement with the previous SND and CMD-2 measurements. Data on the e+e- --> omega pi0 cross section are well described by the VMD model with two excited rho-like states. From the measured cross section we have extracted the gamma^* --> omega pi0 transition form factor. It has been found that the VDM model cannot describe simultaneously our data and data obtained from the omega --> pi0 mu+ mu- decay. We have also tested CVC hypothesis comparing our results on the e+e- --> omega pi0 cross section with data on the tau- --> omega pi- nu_{tau} decay.