Internal nuclear momentum and subthreshold kaon production

The role of the high momentum component of the nuclear spectral function in subthreshold K+ meson production in proton-nucleus collisions is studied. We use the parametrization of the elementary NN → NYK cross section, which is based on the calculations performed with the boson exchange model. The experimental data on quasi-elastic electron and gamma scattering and backward proton production are analyzed in order to extract the high momentum component in nuclei. It is shown that the contribution from the high momentum component to the kaon production is negligible.