Experimental study of the<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>γ</mml:mi><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mo>→</mml:mo><mml:mi>η</mml:mi><mml:mi>p</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math>reaction with the Crystal Ball detector at the Mainz Microtron (MAMI-C)

The $\ensuremath{\gamma}p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\eta}p$ reaction has been measured with the Crystal Ball and TAPS multiphoton spectrometers in the energy range from the production threshold of 707 MeV to 1.4 GeV ($1.49\ensuremath{\leqslant}W\ensuremath{\leqslant}1.87$ GeV). Bremsstrahlung photons produced by the 1.5-GeV electron beam of the Mainz Microtron MAMI-C and momentum analyzed by the Glasgow tagging spectrometer were used for the $\ensuremath{\eta}$-meson production. Our accumulation of $3.8\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}$ $\ensuremath{\gamma}p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\eta}p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}3{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}6\ensuremath{\gamma}p$ events allows a detailed study of the reaction dynamics. The $\ensuremath{\gamma}p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\eta}p$ differential cross sections were determined for 120 energy bins and the full range of the production angles. Our data show a dip near $W=1680$ MeV in the total cross section caused by a substantial dip in $\ensuremath{\eta}$ production at forward angles. The data are compared to predictions of previous SAID and MAID partial-wave analyses and to the latest SAID and MAID fits that included our data.