Probing Supersymmetry with Parity-Violating Electron Scattering

Abstract

We compute the one-loop supersymmetric (SUSY) contributions to the weak charges of the electron ($Q_W^e$), proton ($Q_W^p$), and cesium nucleus ($Q_W^{\rm Cs}$) in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). Such contributions can generate several percent corrections to the corresponding Standard Model values. The magnitudes of the SUSY loop corrections to $Q_W^e$ and $Q_W^p$ are correlated over nearly all of the MSSM parameter space and result in an increase in the magnitudes of these weak charges. In contrast, the effects on $Q_W^{\rm Cs}$ are considerably smaller and are equally likely to increase or decrease its magnitude. Allowing for R-parity violation can lead to opposite sign relative shifts in $Q_W^e$ and $Q_W^p$, normalized to the corresponding Standard Model values. A comparison of $Q_W^p$ and $Q_W^e$ measurements could help distinguish between different SUSY scenarios.