Neutral pion photoproduction at high energies

A Regge model with absorptive corrections is employed in a global analysis of the world data on the reactions gamma p -> pi0 p and gamma n -> pi0 n for photon energies from 3 to 18 GeV. In this region resonance contributions are expected to be negligible so that the available experimental information on differential cross sections and single- and double polarization observables at -t < 2 GeV^2 allows us to determine the non-resonant part of the reaction amplitude reliably. The model amplitude is then used to predict observables for photon energies below 3 GeV. A detailed comparison with recent data from the CLAS and CB-ELSA Collaborations in that energy region is presented. Furthermore, the prospects for determining the pi0 radiative decay width via the Primakoff effect from the reaction gamma p -> pi0 p are explored.