PRODUCTION AND DECAY OF NEUTRALINOS IN THE NEXT-TO-MINIMAL SUPERSYMMETRIC STANDARD MODEL

Within the framework of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Mo del (NMSSM) we study neutralino production e(+)e(-)--><(chi)over tilde (i)(0)><(chi)over tilde(j)(0)> (i,j=1,...,5) at center-of-mass energie s between 100 and 600 GeV and the decays of the heavier neutralinos in to the LSP plus a fermion pair, a photon or a Higgs boson. For represe ntative gaugino/higgsino mixing scenarios, where the light neutralinos have significant singlet components, we find some striking difference s between the NMSSM and the minimal supersymmetric model. Since in the NMSSM neutralino and Higgs sector are strongly correlated, the decay of the second lightest neutralino into a Higgs boson and the LSP often is kinematically possible and even dominant in a large parameter regi on of typical NMSSM scenarios. Also. the decay rates into final states with a photon may be enhanced.