Exclusive production of quarkonia as a probe of the generalized parton distribution for gluons

Exclusive quarkonium photo- and electro-production off the nucleon is studied in the framework of generalized parton distributions (GPDs). The short-distance part of the process is treated at leading order in perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics. The main focus is on the GPD E for gluons. On the basis of different models for E-8 we estimate the transverse target spin asymmetry for typical kinematics of a future Electron Ion Collider. We also explore the potential of measuring the polarization of the recoil nucleon.