A search for squarks and gluinos using the jets and missing energy signature at D-0

This thesis reports on a search for evidence of production and decay of squarks (q) and gluinos (g) of Minimal Supergravity (mSUGRA) in p{bar p} collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.8 TeV using the D0 detector at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Data corresponding to 79.2 {+-} 4.2 pb{sup -1} were examined for events with large missing transverse energy (E{sub T}), three or more jets, high energy leading jet, and the absence of isolated leptons. Since no events were observed in excess of Standard Model background predictions, limits are placed in the mSUGRA M{sub 0} - M{sub {1/2}} plane for fixed parameters tan {beta} = 2, A{sub o} = 0, and {mu} < 0. The excluded region includes all mSUGRA models with m{sub q} < 250 GeV/c{sup 2}. For small M{sub 0}, gluinos with mass less than 300 GeV/c{sup 2} are excluded. If squarks and gluinos have the same mass, that common mass must be greater than 260 GeV/c{sup 2}.