Broken R-parity, stop decays, and neutrino physics

Abstract

We discuss the phenomenology of the lightest stop in models where R-parity is broken by bilinear superpotential terms. In this class of models we consider scenarios where the R-parity breaking two-body decay ~t_1->τ^+b competes with the leading three-body decays such as ~t_1->W^+b~χ^0_1. We demonstrate that the R-parity violating decay can be sizable and in some parts of the parameter space even the dominant one. Moreover we discuss the expectations for t_1->μ^+b and ~t_1->e^+b. The recent results from solar and atmospheric neutrinos suggest that these are as important as the tau bottom mode. The t_1->l^+b decays are of particular interest for hadron colliders, as they may allow a full mass reconstruction of the lighter stop. Moreover these decay modes allow cross checks on the neutrino mixing angle involved in the solar neutrino puzzle complementary to those possible using neutralino decays. For the so--called small mixing angle or SMA solution ~t_1->e^+b should be negligible, while for the large mixing angle type solutions all ~t_1->l^+b decays should have comparable magnitude.