CP Violation from Slepton Oscillations at the LHC and NLC

Abstract

In supersymmetric theories the charged sleptons of different generations may oscillate amongst themselves while they decay. In the case of three generation oscillations, superpartner production at the LHC and NLC may lead to an observable $CP$-violating signal $N(e^+μ^-) - N(μ^+e^-)$. This signal is proportional to a $CP$-violating invariant of the slepton mass matrix, $\widetilde{J}$, which is not constrained by searches for the electric dipole moment of the electron. The sensitivity of the LHC and NLC to this signal is highly dependent on superpartner masses, but $\widetilde{J}$ may be probed to a level of $10^{-3}$. Observation of the $CP$-violating signal would imply a definite structure for the slepton mass matrices and have strong implications for models of flavor and SUSY breaking.