Role of Particle-Hole Correlations in the Inelastic Scattering of Electrons fromC12,O16, andCa40

All available experimental data on the inelastic scattering of high-energy electrons from ${\mathrm{C}}^{12}$, ${\mathrm{O}}^{16}$, and ${\mathrm{Ca}}^{40}$ have been analyzed in terms of the particle-hole models of nuclear excitations. The calculations do not involve any free parameters. The results proved quite sensitive to the treatment of nuclear correlations and generally favored the random-phase approximation, which yielded satisfactory agreement with most of the data.