Photoproduction of ρmesons and Δ-baryons in the reaction γp → pπ+π- at energies up to $ \sqrt{{s}}$ = 2.6 GeV

The photoproduction of ρ0-mesons and Δ-baryons at photon energies up to 2.6 GeV has been studied with the SAPHIR detector at the electron stretcher ELSA. Total and differential cross-sections were obtained. The decay angular distributions of ρ0-mesons show that s-channel helicity conservation, which is valid at high photon energies, is broken near threshold. The energy dependencies of the decay angular distributions in the helicity system as well as in the Gottfried-Jackson system hint at small s- or u-channel resonance contributions. For the reactions γp → Δ{++}π- and γp → Δ0π+ new data on cross-sections are presented.