Based on the nonrelativistic QCD framework, we study ? production in semi-inclusive deep inelastic electron-proton scattering (SIDIS) at HERA, EIC, and LHeC, with the main aim of assessing the viability of observing ? electroproduction at the three colliders. The color-octet (CO) contributions are found to have a crucial effect on both the integrated and differential cross sections, serving to further establish the significance of the CO mechanism. By setting the kinematic cuts to p t , ? ? 2 > 1 ? ? GeV 2 , W > 50 ? ? GeV , 2 < Q 2 < 100 ? ? GeV 2 , and 0.3 < z < 0.9 , only a few electroproduced ? events can be generated at HERA, partially accounting for its lack of measured ? electroproduction. However, under the same cut conditions, the EIC and LHeC can accumulate about 8.7 × 10 2 and 3.7 × 10 4 reconstructed ? events in one operation year, respectively, which manifestly indicates the prospect of detecting the ? -related SIDIS processes at the two forthcoming e p ( e A ) colliders.
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