Electromagnetic Structure of the 3-Nucleon System

The cross sections for elastic scattering of high-energy electrons on ${\mathrm{He}}^3$ and ${\mathrm{H}}^3$ are calculated. The nuclear ground-state wave functions are assumed to consist of a dominant fully symmetric $S$ state with either Gaussian or exponential space dependence and a small component of $D$ state. We include also estimates of effects of relativistic terms in the nuclear current, and effects of the exchange currents. The results are compared with the experimental data of Hofstadter, Collard, and Yearian. We can fit these data to within their experimental limits for both ${\mathrm{He}}^3$ and ${\mathrm{H}}^3$. The best fits are not obtained by choosing the same wave parameters for both nuclei.