Muon pair production in electron-electron collisions as a test of the left-right-symmetric model.

Abstract

We investigate the same-sign muon pair production in high-energy electron-electron collisions. This process violates the separate conservation of the electron and muon lepton number and is therefore forbidden in the standard electroweak model. In the SU(2${)}_{\mathit{L}}$\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SU(2${)}_{\mathit{R}}$\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}U(1${)}_{\mathit{B}\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathit{L}}$ left-right-symmetric model it is allowed and takes place at the tree level due to a double-charged Higgs triplet ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$ exchange in the s channel. At the one-loop level the reaction proceeds through box diagrams with Majorana neutrinos and gauge bosons as virtual states. The reaction ${\mathit{e}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$${\mathit{e}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\mu}}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\mu}}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$ offers a probe of the central ingredients of left-right-symmetric models and allows us to test the existence of the Higgs triplet up to a mass of 10 TeV.