Extraction of electrostrong parameters of N∗(1520) from eta photoproduction

Recently obtained polarized target and photon asymmetry data in eta photoproduction are shown to be very powerful, in conjunction with the differential cross-section data, in yielding model-insensitive constraints on the electrostrong parameters for the excitation and decay of the N∗(1520) resonance. The extracted ratio of its electromagnetic helicity amplitudes, A32/A12, provides a critical test for the QCD-inspired hadron models.