Delta-isobar relativistic meson exchange currents in quasielastic electron scattering

We study the role of the $\Delta$-isobar current on the response functions for high energy inclusive quasielastic electron scattering from nuclei. We consider a general Lagrangian which is compatible with contact invariance and perform a fully relativistic calculation in first-order perturbation theory for one-particle emission. The dependence of the responses upon off-shell parametrizations is analyzed and found to be mild. A discussion of scaling behaviour and a comparison with various non-relativistic approaches are also presented.