Three-body decays of selectrons and smuons in low-energy supersymmetry breaking models

In models with low-energy supersymmetry breaking, it is well-known that charged sleptons can be significantly lighter than the lightest neutralino, with the gravitino and lighter stau being the lightest and next-to-lightest supersymmetric particles respectively. We give analytical formulas for the three-body decays of right-handed selectrons and smuons into final states involving a tau, a stau, and an electron or muon, which are relevant in this scenario. We find that the three-body decays dominate over much of the parameter space, but the two-body decays into a lepton and a gravitino can compete if the three-body phase space is small and the supersymmetry-breaking scale (governing the two-body channel) is fairly low. We study this situation quantitatively for typical gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking model parameters. The three-body decay lengths are possibly macroscopic, leading to new unusual signals. We also analyze the final-state energy distributions, and briefly assess the prospects for detecting these decays at CERN LEP2 and other colliders.