  The longitudinal and transverse components of the cross section for the $e
p\to e^\prime p \rho^0$ reaction were measured in Hall B at Jefferson
Laboratory using the CLAS detector. The data were taken with a 4.247 GeV
electron beam and were analyzed in a range of $x_B$ from 0.2 to 0.6 and of
$Q^2$ from 1.5 to 3.0 GeV$^2$. The data are compared to a Regge model based on
effective hadronic degrees of freedom and to a calculation based on Generalized
Parton Distributions. It is found that the transverse part of the cross section
is well described by the former approach while the longitudinal part can be
reproduced by the latter.

High Energy Physics - Experiment