Gaugino
In supersymmetry theories of particle physics, a gaugino is the hypothetical fermionic supersymmetric field quantum of a gauge field, as predicted by gauge theory combined with supersymmetry. All gauginos have a spin of, except for the gravitino, which has a spin of.
In the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model the following gauginos exist:
- The gluino is the superpartner of the gluon, and hence carries color charge.
- The gravitino is the supersymmetric partner of the graviton.
- Three winos are the superpartners of the W bosons of the SUL gauge fields.
- The bino is the superpartner of the U gauge field corresponding to weak hypercharge.
Mixing
Gauginos mix with higgsinos, the superpartners of the Higgs field's degrees of freedom, to form mass eigenstates called neutralinos, which are electrically neutral, and charginos, which are electrically charged.In many supersymmetric models, the lightest supersymmetric particle, often a neutralino such as the photino, is stable. In that case it is a weakly interacting massive particle and a candidate for dark matter.