High statistics study of the reaction gamma p -> p pi(0)eta

Photoproduction off protons of the p pi(0)eta three-body final state was studied with the Crystal Barrel/TAPS detector, at the electron stretcher accelerator ELSA in Bonn, for incident energies from the pi(0)eta production threshold up to 2.5 GeV. Differential cross sections and the total cross sections are presented. The use of linearly polarized photons gives access to the polarization observables Sigma, I-s, and I-c, the latter two characterize beam asymmetries in case of three-body final states. Delta(1232)(eta), N(1535)1/2(-) pi, and pa(0)(980) are the dominant isobars contributing to the reaction. The partial wave analysis confirms the existence of some nucleon and Delta resonances, for which so far only fair evidence was reported. A large number of decay modes of known nucleon and Delta resonances is presented. It is shown that detailed investigations of decay branching ratios may provide a key to unravelling the structure of nucleon and Delta resonances.