On high-energy cosmic photinos

Abstract

We discuss the possible astrophysical consequences of “light” supersymmetric particles, gluinos and photinos. The high-energy photino production is discussed for the “standard photino source”, comprising a compact source of high-energy protons surrounded by a dense gas cloud. The main channel of photino production is the subprocess g + g → g + g followed by a gluino decay g → γ + q + q . The fluxes of high-energy photinos are calculated for the “standard source” and its relevance to the possible astrophysical sources is discussed. High-energy photinos can be detected in the Earth's atmosphere by observation of extensive atmospheric showers (EAS). An especially favorable detection of photinos is the observation of upward developing showers. The cross section of γ N- scattering , based on the quark subprocess γ + q → q is calculated and the rate of the showers produced by the photino flux from the “standard source” is estimated. The photino hypothesis is discussed for Cyg X-3. High-energy photinos (as well as ν e neutrinos) can effectively produce EAS with the usual “nuclear” muon content through the resonant reactions γ + q → q and ν e + e → W − → hadrons . They can also produce muons with E μ⪆1 TeV in deep underground detectors. However, we claim that both of these possibilities can be excluded.