Excitation of low lying natural parity levels inPb208by inelastic electron scattering

High resolution electron scattering measurements on ${}_{}{}^{208}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Pb}$ have been performed at 90° and 160°, which allow the spatial reconstruction of transition charge densities and for the first time, transition current densities. The measurement covering the momentum transfer range of $0.5<q<\mathrm{}2.6\mathrm{}$ ${\mathrm{fm}}^{-1\mathrm{}}$ is supplemented by high momentum transfer data from Saclay, extending the data for some of the states up to a momentum transfer of 3.4 ${\mathrm{fm}}^{-1\mathrm{}}$. We report on the first three $J^{\pi }=5^{-}$ states and the first $J^{\pi }=7^{-}$ state. Transition charge densities have been also extracted for the lowest $J^{\pi }=2^{+},4^{+},6^{+},\mathrm{and}{8}^{+}$ states. The densities are compared to a number of theoretical calculations. Transverse electric currents are shown for the $5^{-}$ states that indicate a quenching of the magnetization current similar to observations from other states but the absence of quenching in the convection current contribution.