  We perform an analysis of the elastic production of vector mesons with
polarized photon beams at high energy in order to investigate the validity of a
recently proposed dynamical mechanism based on the dominance of the f_1
trajectory at large momentum transfer. The density matrix characterizing the
angular distributions of the vector meson decays is calculated within an
exchange model which includes the Pomeron and the f_1. The asymmetries of these
decays turn out to be very useful to disentangle the role of these exchanges
since their effect depends crucially on their quantum numbers which are
different. The observables analyzed are accessible with present experimental
facilities.
