Search for scalar top and scalar bottom quarks using the OPAL detector at LEP

Abstract The scalar top quark can be the lightest charged supersymmetric particle and it can be lighter than the top quark itself in supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model. A search for a scalar top quark has been performed using a total data sample of 15.2 pb −1 at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 130, 136, and 161 GeV collected with the OPAL detector at LEP. No evidence was found above the background level expected from the Standard Model. The 95% C.L. lower limit on the scalar top quark mass is 58.7 GeV, if the mixing angle between the supersymmetric partners of the left- and right-handed states of the top quark is smaller than π 4 . If the mixing angle is zero, the limit is 65.4 GeV. These limits were obtained on the condition that the scalar top quark decays into a charm quark and the lightest neutralino, and that the mass difference between the scalar top quark and the lightest neutralino is larger than 10 GeV. Assuming a relatively light scalar neutrino, we also studied the complementary decay mode of the scalar top quark in which it decays into a bottom quark, a charged lepton, and a scalar neutrino. A mass limit on the light scalar bottom quark was also set in this study.