Semi-inclusive lepto-production of hidden-charm exotic hadrons

We investigate the semi-inclusive production of hidden-charm exotic states, including the \begin{document}$X(3872)$\end{document}, \begin{document}$Z_c$\end{document}, \begin{document}$Z_{cs}$\end{document} and pentaquark \begin{document}$P_c$\end{document} states, in lepton-proton scattering processes. These hadrons are close to the thresholds of a pair of charm and anticharm hadrons and are assumed to possess a hadronic molecular structure as their main feature. To provide order-of-magnitude estimates of the cross sections, we use Pythia to simulate the short-distance productions of the constituent hadrons, which then rescatter to form exotic hadrons. The estimates for the \begin{document}$X(3872)$\end{document} and \begin{document}$Z_c(3900)^\pm$\end{document} states are not in conflict with the upper limits measured in the COMPASS experiment for the exclusive photoproduction process. The results indicate that the considered hidden-charm states can be copiously produced at the proposed electron-ion colliders EicC and US-EIC.