Deep inelastic electron scattering from nuclei

The deep inelastic electron scattering cross sections for d, He, Be, C, Al, Ca, Fe, Ag and Au were measured at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center using electrons with energies ranging from 8 to 24.5 GeV. These data cover a range in the Bjorken variable x from 0.09 and 0.9 and in momentum transfer $Q\sp2$ from 2 to 15 (GeV/c)$\sp2$. The ratios of cross sections per nucleon $\sigma\sp{A}/\sigma\sp{d}$ have been extracted from the data. These ratios are consistent with unity in the range 0.1 $< x <$ 0.3 while for 0.3 $< x <$ 0.8 they are less than unity and decrease logarithmically with atomic weight A, or linearly with average nuclear density. No $Q\sp2$ dependence in the ratios was observed over the kinematic range of the data. These results are compared to predictions of some recent models.