If the $X(3872)$ is a loosely-bound $D^{*0}{\overline{D}}^0/D^0{\overline{D}}^{*0}$ molecule, its inclusive production rate can be described by the NRQCD factorization formalism that applies to inclusive quarkonium production. We argue that if the molecule has quantum numbers $J^{PC}=1^{++}$, the most important term in the factorization formula should be the color-octet ${}^{3}S_1$ term. This is also one of the two most important terms in the factorization formulas for ${\chi }_{cJ}$. Since the color-octet ${}^{3}S_1$ term dominates ${\chi }_{cJ}$ production for many processes, the ratio of the inclusive direct production rates for $X$ and ${\chi }_{cJ}$ should be roughly the same for these processes. The assumption that the ratio of the production rates for $X$ and ${\chi }_{cJ}$ is the same for all processes is used to estimate the inclusive production rate of $X$ in $B$ meson decays, $Z^0$ decays, and in $p\overline{p}$ collisions.

• Received 20 August 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.73.011501