Inclusive Electron-Nucleus Scattering at x > 1 and High Momentum Transfer

We will present results from a recently completed experiment (E02-019) at Jefferson Lab in which 6 GeV electrons were scattered from a series of both light and heavy nuclei at high momentum transfers. The scattered electrons were detected in the High Momentum Spectrometer in Hall C at angles between 18 and 50 degrees and with momenta between 2 and 5 GeV. This experiment extends the kinematic coverage of inclusive electron-nucleus scattering at high momentum transfer to large Bjorken x, forbidden for the free nucleon. These new data present the opportunity to the investigate the transition from a regime where the cross sections are dominated by quasielastic scattering and where nucleon degrees of freedom hold sway, to one where the reaction is deep inelastic in nature and described by the more fundamental quarks and gluons. A brief description of the experiment will be followed by a presentation of the preliminary data along with a discussion of the scaling behavior of the data