
While 0 ν β β has the greatest sensitivity to new ultraviolet energy scales, its rate might be suppressed by the new physics relationship to lepton flavor, and the μ − → e + conversion offers a complementary probe of lepton-number-violating physics. Our meticulous investigation reveals the remarkable suitability of electron-proton colliders, harnessing advantages such as negligible pileups, minimal QCD backgrounds, and suppressed positron-related backgrounds. We survey lepton-number violating dimension-five, -seven, and -nine effective operators in the standard model and discuss the relationships between Majorana neutrino masses and the rates for 0 ν β β and the μ − → e + conversion. n and n ¯ must have opposite baryon numbers, but whether we call these +1 and -1 or -1 and +1 does not matter, provided we are consistent. One of the most promising observables is the μ − → e + conversion, which can be explored by experiments that are specifically designed to search for the μ − → e − conversion. 1 Answer Sorted by: 1 The sign of lepton number (s) and baryon number is arbitrary.

Lepton-number violation and lepton-flavor violation may be related, and much-needed information regarding the physics that violates the lepton number can be learned by exploring observables that violate lepton flavors other than the electron flavor. For example, when an antimuon decays, it changes into a positron, an electron neutrino and a muon antineutrino. And coming out of the vertex we have a photon with a lepton number of zero, so lepton number is conserved. So the total lepton number going into our vertex is one minus one, which is zero. There is no guarantee that the violation of the lepton number, assuming it exists, will primarily manifest itself in neutrinoless double beta decay ( 0 ν β β). As for lepton number, we have an electron with a lepton number of positive one, a positron with a lepton number of negative one.
