Searching for supersymmetry in Z' decays

TL;DR

This paper explores how supersymmetric decay modes of Z' bosons affect mass exclusion limits, highlighting the importance of considering supersymmetry in Z' searches at colliders.

Contribution

It introduces the impact of supersymmetric decay channels on Z' mass exclusion limits within GUT-inspired models and the Sequential Standard Model.

Findings

Supersymmetric decays can shift Z' mass exclusion limits by 200-300 GeV.

Decays into sleptons, charginos, and neutralinos significantly influence collider search strategies.

Final states with leptons and missing energy are crucial for detecting supersymmetric Z' decays.

Abstract

I investigate production and decay of heavy neutral gauge bosons Z' in GUT-inspired U(1)' groups and in the Sequential Standard Model. In particular, decays into supersymmetric particles, such as slepton, chargino and neutralino pairs, as predicted in the MSSM, are accounted for, with a special interest in final states with leptons and missing energy. For a representative point of the parameter space, it is found that the inclusion of supersymmetric decay modes has an impact of 200-300 GeV on the Z' mass exclusion limits.