New results on the search for spin-exotic mesons with COMPASS

The COMPASS fixed-target experiment at the CERN-SPS studies the structure and spectrum of hadrons. One important goal using hadron beams is the search for new states, in particular spin-exotic mesons and glueballs. As a first input to the puzzle, COMPASS observed a significant J PC spin-exotic signal in the 2004 pilot run data (190 GeV/c π − beam, Pb target) in three charged pion final states consistent with the disputed π 1 (1600). We started our hadron spectroscopy programme in 2008 by collecting very high statistics using a 190 GeV/c negative pion beam scattered off a liquid hydrogen (proton) target. The current status and new results from the 2008 data on the search for the π 1 (1600) resonance with exotic J PC = 1 −+ quantum numbers obtained from partial-wave analyses of the ρπ and η π decay channels are presented.