Weak interactions of supersymmetric staus at high energies

Abstract

Neutrino telescopes may have the potential to detect the quasistable staus predicted by some supersymmetric models. Detection depends on stau electromagnetic energy loss and weak interactions. We present results for the weak interactions contribution to the energy loss of high energy staus as they pass through rock. We show that the neutral-current weak interaction contribution is much smaller than photonuclear energy loss, however, the charged-current contribution may become dominant process above an energy of $\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{9}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$. As a consequence, the stau range may be reduced above $\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{9}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ as compared to the range neglecting weak interactions. We contrast this with the case of tau range, which is barely changed with the inclusion of charged-current interactions.