Test of nuclear currents in transverse electron scattering

Nuclear current distributions for rotational states of heavy nuclei obtained in realistic cranked shell-model calculations with BCS correlations are used to calculate the transverse PWBA form factors for inelastic electron scattering. By keeping the same density but changing the velocity fields the sensitivity of the form factors to the dynamics of nuclear motion is explored. It is found that experiments on the 0 + → 2 + transition alone will not allow a satisfactory determination of the nuclear flow but that an analysis also of the 0 + → 4 + transition will be necessary. For these transitions optimal q -windows are identified.