Testing the Majorana nature of neutralinos in supersymmetric theories

Abstract

We discuss selectron pair production in e- e- scattering. These processes can only occur via t-channel neutralino exchange, provided that the neutralinos are Majorana fermions. We concentrate on the processes e- e- -> e^~_L e^~_L,e^~_R e^~_R -> e- X^~_1^0 e- X^~_2^0 -> e- X^~_1^0 e- X^~_1^0 f f, in which a complete determination of the final state momenta is possible without using the selectron masses as input. The experimental reconstruction of the selectron masses in this decay channel provides clear evidence of the Majorana character of the neutralinos, which is confirmed by the analysis of the electron energy spectrum.

Comments: LaTeX, 35 pages, 23 PS figures. Some clarifications, comments and references added, typos corrected. Final version to appear in Nucl. Phys. B