Primakoff production of π0, η, and η' in the Coulomb field of a nucleus

Photoproduction of neutral pseudoscalar mesons π0,η(547), and η'(958) in the Coulomb field of an atomic nucleus is studied using a model which describes the Primakoff and nuclear parts of the production amplitude. At high energies the nuclear background is dominated by the exchange of C-parity odd Regge trajectories. In the coherent production the isospin filtering makes the ω(782) a dominant trajectory. The calculations are in agreement with π0 data from JLAB provided the photon shadowing and final state interactions of mesons are taken into account. The kinematic conditions which allow to study the Primakoff effect in η and η' photoproduction off nuclei are further discussed. We also give predictions for the higher energies available at the JLAB upgrade.