Electron scattering by nuclei

The theory of electron-nucleus interaction is reviewed and applied to the derivation of the cross-sections for elastic and quasi-electric scattering. A detailed survey of the available experimental data concerning the above processes is presented. The theoretical interpretation of the experimental data in terms of microscopic wave functions is thoroughly discussed and the effects of meson exchange currents are also considered. Finally, a discussion is presented on the problem of the effects of the so-called short-range correlations in electron scattering and the question as to whether a unified analysis of electron, photon and proton scattering from light nuclei at intermediate energies is at present possible is also discussed. Attention is mainly focussed on the theoretical interpretation of the experimental data pertaining to the few-body systems, in terms of accurate solutions of the non-relativistic Schroedinger equation, and those pertaining to light nuclei in terms of approximate wave functions resulting from various types of linked cluster expansions based on the G matrix. 405 references. (author)