Parity violation in quasielastic electron scattering from closed-shell nuclei

The electromagnetic and weak neutral current matrix elements that enter in the analysis of parity-violating quasielastic electron scattering are calculated using a continuum nuclear shell model. New approximations to the on-shell relativistic one-body currents and relativistic kinematics for use in such models are developed and discussed in detail. Results are presented for three closed-shell nuclei of interest: ^{16}O, ^{40}Ca and ^{208}Pb. The current work concludes with a study of the sensitivity of the resulting parity-violating asymmetries to properties of the nucleon form factors including the possible strangeness content of the nucleon