Gauginos as a signal for supersymmetry at pp-bar colliders

We present a comprehensive analysis of the signals from the pair production of the mass eigenstates (W, Z, and gamma) of the gauge-Higgs-fermion system for both CERN and Fermilab Tevatron energies, assuming that gamma is relatively light (approx. <10 GeV) and escapes detection. The effect of varying the mixings and the mass spectrum of the scalar fermions is also discussed for a general minimal supersymmetry model, assuming only that gamma is light. Signals from both the hadronic and leptonic decays of W and Z are studied, incorporating cuts, triggers, and experimental resolutions appropriate to the UA1 detector and Collider Detector at Fermilab. We show that if the decays W→WZ and Z0→WW-bar are kinematically accessible, there is a substantial level of (i) jet(s) + p/sub T/ events from the hadronic decays of W and Z, (ii) a comparable level of background-free multilepton + p/sub T/ events, essentially free from hadronic activity from the leptonic decay of W and Z, and (iii) jet(s) + lepton(s) + p/sub T/ events from the leptonic decay of one of the gauginos and hadronic decay of the other. We present rates and distributions for these events and show that a conclusive absence of such a signal could lead to more stringent direct mass limits on masses of the W and Z than are currently available