NEUTRALINO PRODUCTION AS A SUSY DISCOVERY PROCESS AT CERN LEP-2

A thorough study is performed on pair production and signatures of sup ersymmetric neutralinos in the MSSM at LEP 2. Particular attention is paid to the region of the SUSY parameter space where the associated pr oduction of lightest and next-to-lightest neutralinos is the only visi ble allowed supersymmetric process. In that region, the signal is crit ically dependent on the selectron masses <m((e)over bar L,R)>. For roo t s/2 < <m((e)over bar L,R)> less than or similar to 200-300 GeV and c harginos above the threshold for pair production, neutralinos arising from e(+)e(-) --> chi(1)(-0)chi(2)(-0) could be the only SUSY signal d etectable at LEP 2.