A Decisive Test of Superstring-Inspired E(6) Models

Abstract

We point out that in a large class of superstring--inspired $E(6)$ models, either an e+e- collider operating at a center--of--mass energy $\rs= 1.5$ TeV or higher must detect the pair production of charged or neutral exotic leptons, or an e+e- collider with $\rs \geq 300$ GeV must discover at least one light neutral Higgs boson with invisible branching ratio exceeding 50\%. If neither of these two signals is seen, the lightest neutral exotic lepton would overclose the universe, and the model could be completely excluded, independent of the values of the numerous free parameters. Future Higgs searches might lower the energy of the e+e- collider needed to test these models decisively. The only assumptions we have to make are that $R-$parity is exact, so that the lightest exotic lepton is stable if it is lighter than the lightest neutralino, and that no $SO(10)$ singlet scalar gets a vacuum expectation of order $10^{10}$ GeV or higher. If the second condition is violated, the model effectively reduces to an $SO(10)$ model as far as collider experiments are concerned.