The phenomenology of SUSY models with a gluino LSP

Abstract

In this paper we study the experimental consequences of a theory which naturally has a heavy, stable (or almost stable) gluino. We define the boundary conditions at a messenger scale M ∼ 10 14 GeV which lead to this alternative phenomenologically acceptable version of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. In this theory, either the gluino or the gravitino is the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). If the gravitino is the LSP, then the gluino is the next-to-LSP with a lifetime on the order of 100 years. In either case, the gluino is (for all practical purposes) a stable particle with respect to experiments at high energy accelerators. Thus the standard missing energy signature for SUSY fails. A stable gluino forms a color singlet hadron, the lightest of which is assumed to be an isoscalar gluino-gluon bound state ( R 0). The R 0 has strong interactions and will interact in a hadronic calorimeter; depositing some fraction of its kinetic energy. Finally, in the case the gravitino is the LSP, bounds from searches for stable heavy isotopes of hydrogen or oxygen do not apply to the metastable R 0.