  The electro- and photo-production of $J/\psi$ meson near the threshold from
the proton is relevant to the search of hidden charm pentaquark candidates
reported by the LHCb collaboration, and the study of the QCD trace anomaly's
contribution to the proton mass. It is also expected to be sensitive to the QCD
van der Waals interaction, that is mediated by multi-gluon exchanges and
expected to dominate the interaction between two hadrons with no common valence
quarks. Subthreshold production of $J/\psi$ from a nuclear target is expected
to enhance such attractive interaction, and also allows for a direct probe of
short range correlations inside a nucleus. With the high luminosity capability
of the 12-GeV CEBAF facility at Jefferson Lab, high-precision data on $J/\psi$
meson production from the proton is becoming available, providing also a
reference for subthreshold $J/\psi$ production from the deuteron. Data from the
deuteron will establish the baseline for subthreshold $J/\psi$ production from
other nuclear targets. In this paper, we present our findings from a
feasibility study of subthreshold $J/\psi$ production from the deuteron using
the proposed Solenoidal Large Intensity Device (SoLID), and discuss the
potential physics impact of such data.
