Probing Split Supersymmetry with Cosmic Rays
Abstract
A striking aspect of the recently proposed split supersymmetry is the existence of heavy gluinos which are metastable because of the very heavy squarks which mediate their decay. In this paper we outline a plausible scenario for the production of these particles in distant astrophysical sources and estimate the diffuse flux on Earth. The extremely low inelasticity in their collisions with the air molecules makes possible a distinct characterization of the showers induced in the atmosphere. Under very reasonable assumptions on the source parameters, we show that an event rate of approximately 10 yr^{-1} for gluino masses of about 500 GeV can be expected at each site of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Should such events be observed, we show that their cosmogenic origin, in concert with the requirement that they reach the Earth before decay, leads to a lower bound on their proper lifetime of the order of several years, and consequently, to a lower bound on the scale of supersymmetry breaking, \Lambda_{SUSY} > 10^{11} GeV. Obtaining such a bound is not possible in collider experiments.Keywords
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