Light meson photoproduction with Regge theory: advancing the hybrid meson searches at GlueX
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Over the past two decades, hadron spectroscopy has seen renewed interest following the discovery of states that do not fit within the conventional quark model. Understanding the nature of these exotic hadrons and the mechanisms by which they are produced is a central challenge in hadron physics. Photoproduction experiments such as GlueX at Jefferson Lab play an important role in this effort, particularly in the search for hybrid mesons with excited gluonic degrees of freedom. A reliable interpretation of the experimental data requires a good theoretical understanding of the underlying production mechanisms. At sufficiently high energy, Regge theory provides the theoretical framework to describe peripheral meson production via the exchange of Regge trajectories in the t-channel. In this seminar, I will present recent theoretical developments in the description of light-meson photoproduction within Regge theory. After a brief introduction to spectroscopy and the basic concepts of Regge theory, I will discuss recent progress in describing meson photoproduction processes relevant to GlueX. These developments aim to improve the theoretical interpretation of experimental data and provide guidance for ongoing and future experimental analyses, with implications for the search for the exotic hybrid mesons.