The GlueX Photoproduction Experiment and Eta Program at Jefferson Lab

The GlueX experiment in Hall D at Jefferson Lab was designed primarily to investigate hybrid meson states. It features a high-intensity, linearly polarized photon beam and a nearly hermetic spectrometer capable of detecting both charged and neutral final-state particles. However, the photoproduction data collected at GlueX provides a wealth of information applicable to a variety of topics, from near-threshold J/Psi photoproduction to the charged pion polarizability. Notably, η meson photoproduction serves as a unique probe for fundamental symmetries in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). A precision measurement of the η meson's radiative decay width via the Primakoff effect is being carried out, and thanks to recent upgrades of the forward-direction electromagnetic calorimeter, rare decays of the η meson will be studied to provide insight into fundamental symmetries of QCD and BSM physics. In this talk we will discuss a broad overview of some physics topics and recent results from the GlueX experiment, with a particular emphasis on the η program.