Theoretical analysis of the pp¯→π0e+e− process within a Regge framework

We study the annihilation process pp¯→π0e+e− within a Regge framework, as a means to provide constraints on timelike nucleon form factors. We present results for the e+e− angular distributions and the differential cross sections in kinematics which will be accessible by PANDA@FAIR. To check the consistency of the model, we first test the approach on the process of real photon production, p¯p→π0γ, where data in the energy range of 2.911 GeV⩽s⩽3.686 GeV exist. We find that a Regge pole model is able to well reproduce the available data. The analysis is then extended to a timelike virtual photon in the final state.