(μ-,μ+) conversion in nuclei as a probe of new physics -: art. no. 033005

We present a detailed analysis of the muonic analogue of neutrinoless double beta decay (mu(-),mu(+)) conversion. We study several lepton number violating (LNV) mechanisms potentially triggering this process: exchange by light and heavy Majorana neutrinos as well as exchange by supersymmetric particles participating in R-parity violating interactions. The nuclear structure is taken into account within the renormalized quasiparticle random phase approximation method. This is the first realistic treatment of nuclear structure aspects of the (mu(-),mu(+)) conversion. We estimate the rate of this process utilizing the existing experimental constraints on the parameters of the underlying LNV interactions and conclude that the (mu(-),mu(+)) conversion will hardly be detectable in the near future experiments.