Upper bounds on the mass of the lightest neutralino

Abstract

We derive the general upper bounds on the mass of the lightest neutralino, as a function of the gluino mass, in different supersymmetry breaking models with minimal particle content and the standard model gauge group. This includes models with gravity mediated supersymmetry breaking (SUGRA), as well as models with anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking (AMSB). We include the next-to-leading order corrections in our evaluation of these bounds. We then expand the mass matrix in powers of M_Z/mu, and find the upper bound on the mass of the lightest neutralino from this expansion. By scanning over all of the parameter space, we find that the bound we have obtained can be saturated. We compare the general upper bound on the lightest neutralino mass to the upper bound that is obtained when the radiative electroweak symmetry breaking scenario is assumed.