Supersymmetry: Where it is and how to find it

Abstract

We present a pedagogical, but by no means complete, review of weak scale supersymmetry phenomenology. After a general introduction to the new particles that must be present in any supersymmetric framework, we describe how to write down their interactions with one another as well as with the particles of the Standard Model. We then elucidate the assumptions underlying the Minimal Supersymmetric Model as well as the more restrictive minimal supergravity GUT model with the radiative breaking of electroweak symmetry. These models serve to guide our thinking about the implications of supersymmetry for experiments. To facilitate our study of signatures of supersymmetric particles at high energy colliders, we describe the decay patterns of sparticles as well as their production mechanisms in $e^+e^-$ and hadron-hadron collisions. We then discuss how sparticles may be searched for in on-going experiments at the Tevatron and at LEP. We review phenomenological constraints on supersymmetric particle masses from non-observation of any signals in these experiments, and also briefly discuss constraints from low energy experiments and from cosmology. Next, we study new strategies by which supersymmetric particles may be searched for at supercolliders, and also what we can learn about their properties (masses, spins, couplings) in these experiments. A determination of sparticle properties, we will see, may provide us with clues about the nature of physics at the ultra-high scale. After a brief discussion of possible extensions of the minimal framework and the implications for phenomenology, we conclude with our outlook for the future.