Heavy ion collisions (HIC) at high energies are excellent ways for producing heavy hadrons and composite particles. With upgraded detectors at RHIC and LHC, it has become possible to measure hadrons beyond their ground states. Therefore, HIC provide a new method for studying exotic hadrons that are either hadronic molecular states or compact multiquark systems. Because their structures are related to the fundamental properties of QCD, studying exotic hadrons is currently one of the most active areas of research in hadron physics. Experiments carried out at various accelerator facilities have indicated that some exotic hadrons may have already been produced. The present review is a summary of the current understanding of a selected set of exotic particle candidates that can be potentially measured in HIC. It also includes discussions on the production of exotic hadrons in HIC based on the coalescence and statistical models. A more detailed discussion leads to the conclusion that the yield of a hadron is typically an order of magnitude smaller when it is a compact multiquark state than that of an excited hadronic state with normal quark numbers and/or a molecular configuration. Attention is also given to some of the proposed heavy exotic hadrons that could be produced with sufficient abundance in HIC because of the significant numbers of charm and bottom quarks produced at RHIC and LHC, making it possible to study them in these experiments. Further included in the discussion are the general formalism for the coalescence model that involves resonance particles and its implication on the present estimated yield for resonance production. Finally, a review is given on recent studies to constrain the hadron-hadron interaction through correlation measurements in HIC and their implications on the interpretation and the possible existence of exotic states in hadronic interactions.
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