An ab initio calculation of the ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}$ elastic form factor and sum rules of longitudinal and transverse response functions measured in inclusive ($e$, $e^{\prime }$) scattering are reported, based on realistic nuclear potentials and electromagnetic currents. The longitudinal elastic form factor and sum rule are found to be in satisfactory agreement with available experimental data. A direct comparison between theory and experiment is difficult for the transverse sum rule. However, it is shown that the calculated transverse sum rule has large contributions from two-body currents, indicating that these mechanisms lead to a significant enhancement of the quasielastic transverse response. This fact may have implications for the anomaly observed in recent neutrino quasielastic charge-changing scattering experiments on ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}$.

• Received 29 May 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.092501