Two-body currents and the transverse response of nuclei at large momentum transfer

Effects of the nuclear medium on the transverse response function of inclusive inelastic electron scattering are studied and shown to be substantial at high momentum transfer. In a relativistic Fermi gas model the recently published SLAC data for 56Fe at |q| = 1.14 GeV/c can be reasonably well described if one takes the one-body and two-body meson exchange currents into account together with medium-modified nucleon and Δ masses.