Experimental momentum distributions for the transitions to the ground state and first excited state of ${}^6\mathrm{He}$ have been measured via the reaction ${}^7\mathrm{Li}({e,e}^{\prime }p{)}^6\mathrm{He}$. They are compared to theoretical distributions calculated with variational Monte Carlo (VMC) wave functions which include strong state-dependent correlations in both ${}^7\mathrm{Li}$ and ${}^6\mathrm{He}$. These VMC calculations provide a parameter-free prediction that reproduces the measured data, including its normalization. The deduced spectroscopic factor for the two transitions is $0.58\pm 0.05$, in perfect agreement with the VMC value of 0.60. This is the first successful comparison of experiment and ab initio theory for spectroscopic factors in $p$-shell nuclei.

• Received 21 September 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.4404