Electroproduction of φ(1020) mesons at 1.4 ≤ Q2 ≤ 3.8 GeV2 measured with the CLAS spectrometer

Electroproduction of exclusive phi vector mesons has been studied with the CLAS detector in the kinematic range 1.4 <= Q(2) <= 3.8 GeV2, 0.0 <= t' <= 3.6 GeV2, and 2.0 <= W <= 3.0 GeV. The scaling exponent for the total cross section as 1/(Q(2) + M-phi(2))(n) was determined to be n = 2.49 +/- 0.33. The slope of the four-momentum transfer t' distribution is b(phi) = 0.98 +/- 0.17 GeV-2. Under the assumption of s-channel helicity conservation, we determine the ratio of longitudinal to transverse cross sections to be R = 0.86 +/- 0.24. A two-gluon exchange model is able to reproduce the main features of the data.