Topological search for the production of neutralinos and scalar particles

Abstract A search for scalar particles and neutralinos such as those predicted by supersymmetric models has been performed using a data sample of 4.4 million hadronic Z 0 decays recorded by the OPAL detector at the e + e − collider LEP. The production of such particles typically leads to event topologies consisting of an acoplanar pair of jets, or of a mono-jet, accompanied by sizeable missing energy owing to neutrinos and other undetectable neutral particles. Limits are obtained, at the 95% confidence level, on the masses and production rates of scalar particles produced in association with the Z 0 . Limits are also placed on neutralino production, for which an additional possible signature is also studied, events containing a single observed photon. Within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, the mass of the lightest neutralino is found to be larger than 12.5 GeV/ c 2 at 95% C.L., provided that tan β is larger than 1.5.