DECAYS OF W-BOSONS TO CHARGINOS AND NEUTRALINOS

The region of the supersymmetry parameter space, in which charginos de cay predominantly into sneutrinos and leptons: chi(1)(+)-->>$($) over bar(nu)over tilde>+l(+), is not experimentally for small mass differen ces between charginos and sneutrinos. The decay sneutrinos are invisib le in R-parity conserving theories since they are either the lightest supersymmetric particles or they decay primarily into the channel <(nu )over tilde>-->chi(1)(+)chi(1)(-) in e(+)e(-) collisions remain invisi ble, eroding the excluded chargino mass range at LEP. This region of t he supersymmetry parameter space can partly be covered by searching fo r single W events in e(+)e(-)->W+W-, with one W boson decaying to lept ons or quark jets, but the second W boson decaying to (undetected) cha rginos and neutralinos. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.