Inverse Neutrino-less Double Beta Decay Revisited: Neutrinos, Higgs Triplets and a Muon Collider

Abstract

We revisit the process of inverse neutrino-less double beta decay (e e -> W W) at future linear colliders. The cases of Majorana neutrino and Higgs triplet exchange are considered. We also discuss the processes e mu -> W W and mu mu -> W W, which are motivated by the possibility of muon colliders. For heavy neutrino exchange and center-of-mass energies larger than 1 TeV, we show that masses up to 10^6 (10^5) GeV could be probed for e-e and e-mu machines, respectively. The stringent limits for mixing of heavy neutrinos with muons render mu mu -> W W less promising, even though this process is not constrained by limits from neutrino-less double beta decay. If Higgs triplets are responsible for inverse neutrino-less double beta decay, observable signals are only possible if a very narrow resonance is met. We also consider unitarity aspects of the process in case both Higgs triplets and neutrinos are exchanged. An exact see-saw relation connecting low energy data with heavy neutrino and triplet parameters is found.