[en] The reaction γp → K⁺K^-p was studied at Jefferson Lab with photon energies from 1.8 to 3.8 GeV using a tagged photon beam. The goal was to search for a Θ⁺⁺ pentaquark, a narrow doubly charged baryon state having strangeness S = +1 and isospin I = 1, in the pK⁺ invariant mass spectrum. No statistically significant evidence of a Θ⁺⁺ was found. Upper limits on the total and differential production cross section for the reaction γp → K^-Θ⁺⁺ were obtained in the mass range from 1.5 to 2.0 GeV/c², with an upper limit of about 0.15 nb, 95% C.L. for a narrow resonance with a mass M_#Theta#_#sup ++# = 1.54 GeV/c². This result places a very stringent upper limit on the Θ⁺⁺ width

[en] For the first time, the reaction gamma d -> Lambda n K+ has been analyzed in order to search for the exotic pentaquark baryon Theta+(1540). The data were taken at Jefferson Lab, using the Hall-B tagged-photon beam of energy between 0.8 and 3.6 GeV and the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS). No statistically significant structures were observed in the nK+ invariant mass distribution. The upper limit on the gamma d -> Lambda Theta+ integrated cross section has been calculated and found to be between 5 and 25 nb, depending on the production model assumed. The upper limit on the differential cross section is also reported

[en] High-quality cross sections for the reaction γd → π⁰d have been measured using the CLAS at Jefferson Lab over a wide energy range near and above the η-meson photoproduction threshold. At backward c.m. angles for the outgoing pions, we observe a resonance-like structure near E_γ = 700 MeV. Our model analysis shows that it can be explained by η excitation in the intermediate state. The effect is the result of the contribution of the N(1535)S₁₁ resonance to the amplitudes of the subprocesses occurring between the two nucleons and of a two-step process in which the excitation of an intermediate η meson dominates