Supersymmetry reach of the Fermilab Tevatron via trilepton, like-sign dilepton, and dilepton plus tau jet signatures

We determine the Fermilab Tevatron close-quote s reach in supersymmetric parameter space in trilepton, like-sign dilepton, and dilepton plus tau-jet channels. We critically study the standard model background processes. We find larger backgrounds and, hence, significantly smaller reach regions than recent analyses. We identify the major cause of the background discrepancy. We improve signal-to-noise by introducing an invariant mass cut which takes advantage of a sharp edge in the signal dilepton invariant mass distribution. Also, we independently vary the cuts at each point in SUSY parameter space to determine the set which yields the maximal reach. We find that this cut optimization can significantly enhance the Tevatron reach. copyright 1999 The American Physical Society