Light Stop Decays

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the decay modes of the light stop in supersymmetry when it is the NLSP and close in mass to the neutralino, providing improved calculations of branching ratios that can significantly differ from previous assumptions.

Contribution

It offers improved calculations of light stop decay branching ratios, revealing potential deviations from earlier estimates in specific supersymmetric scenarios.

Findings

Branching ratios can significantly deviate from one.

Decay modes include flavor-violating and four-body decays.

Analysis enhances understanding of stop decay phenomenology.

Abstract

If the stop is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) and the mass difference to the neutralino is smaller than the top mass, it can decay via flavour-violating decay modes to $c\tilde{\chi}^0_1/u\tilde{\chi}^0_1$ or a four-body decay to $b\tilde{\chi}_1^0f\bar{f}'$, which above the $W$ boson threshold corresponds to the decay to $b\tilde{\chi}_1^0W$. Improving on existing calculations for these decay modes, we analyse the branching ratios (BRs) for the respective decays and show that they can significantly deviate from one.