Impact of bosonic decays on the search for t~_1 and b~_1 squarks

Abstract

We show that the bosonic decays of the lighter top and bottom squarks, i.e. t~_1 -> b~_1 + (H^+ or W^+) and b~_1 -> t~_1 + (H^- or W^-), can be dominant in a wide range of the MSSM parameters. Compared to the fermionic decays, such as t~_1 -> b + chargino_j, these bosonic decays can have significantly different decay distributions. We also show that the effect of the supersymmetric QCD running of the quark and squark parameters on the t~_1 and b~_1 decay branching ratios is quite dramatic. These could have an important impact on the search for t~_1 and b~_1 and the determination of the MSSM parameters at future colliders.