Pion production in deeply virtual Compton scattering

Using a soft pion theorem based on chiral symmetry and a $\ensuremath{\Delta}(1232)$ resonance model, we propose an estimate for the production cross section of low energy pions in the deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) process. In particular, we express the $e\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{p}e\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\pi}N$ processes in terms of generalized parton distributions. We provide estimates of the contamination of the $e\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{p}e\ensuremath{\gamma}p$ DVCS observables due to this associated pion production process when the experimental data are not fully exclusive, for a set of kinematical conditions representative of present or planned experiments at JLab, HERMES, and COMPASS.