Electroproduction ofρ0mesons

Cross sections for ${\rho }^0$ electroproduction measured in a streamer-chamber experiment are separated into elastic ($\mathrm{ep}\to \mathrm{ep}{\rho }^0$) and inelastic production channels. For the elastic channel, the total cross section and $t$ dependence are presented. For the inelastic channel $\left(\frac{1}{\sigma }\right)\frac{d\sigma }{\mathrm{dz}}$, $\left(\frac{1}{\sigma }\right)\frac{d\sigma }{d{p_T}^2}$, and a density matrix element are shown and compared to quark-parton-model predictions. The ratio of ${\rho }^0$ to direct ${\pi }^0$ production is found to be 2.0±0.5±0.3, where the first error is statistical, and the second error is systematic.