Challenging weak-scale supersymmetry at colliders

Abstract

Experimental searches for supersymmetry are entering a new era. As future experiments explore the mass range above the current lower bounds on superpartner masses, a failure to observe signals of superpartner production will begin to erode the central motivation for supersymmetry at the weak scale. In this article we present a detailed examination of which regions of supersymmetric parameter space are most natural and the extent to which weak-scale supersymmetry becomes unnatural if no superpartners are observed at LEP-II, the Tevatron, possible upgrades of these machines, and the LHC.