The R parity odd renormalizable Yukawa interactions of quarks and leptons with the scalar superpartners have the ability to violate the baryon and lepton numbers, change the hadron and lepton flavors and make the lightest supersymmetric particle unstable. The existence of an approximate R parity symmetry would thus affect in a deep way the conventional framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model where an exact R parity symmetry is built-in by assumption. The purpose of the present review is to survey in a systematic way the direct experimental constraints set on the R parity violating couplings by the low and intermediate energy physics processes. We consider first the option of bilinear R parity violation and spontaneously broken R parity symmetry and proceed next to the trilinear R parity violating interactions. The discussion aims at surveying the indirect coupling constant bounds derived from fundamental tests of the Standard Model and the variety of scattering and rare decay processes. We also discuss the constraints imposed by the renormalization group scale evolution and the cosmological and astrophysical phenomenology.
IntroductionThe multiplicative Z 2 symmetry, known as R parity, fulfills a central function in supersymmetry physics. Without R parity symmetry, the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) would include bilinear and trilinear renormalizable superpotential terms, coupling the quarks and leptons to their scalar superpartners, which have the ability to initiate fast nucleon decay, large neutrinos masses and the LSP (lightest supersymmetric particle) disintegration into ordinary particles. Thus apart from threatening the nucleon and neutrino stability and contributing to the hadron and lepton flavor changing processes and to neutrino masses and flavor mixing, the R parity odd Yukawa interactions would also disallow any of the supersymmetric cosmic relic particles to contribute to the Universe dark matter component. The R parity symmetry was first introduced in a 1978 work by Farrar and Fayet [1], as part of attempts towards building a realistic particle physics phenomenology of supersymmetry [2,3,4]. This step followed closely in time the major developments in years [1974][1975] which culminated in the construction of supersymmetric field theories [5,6,7], the implementation of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking schemes [8,9] and the discovery of R symmetries [10]. The collection of reprints by Ferrara [11] offers a valuable grasp on the progress of ideas from the early period until the middle 1980's. The subsequent developments are discussed in the review articles [12,13] and the collection of preprints by Salam and Sezgin [14]. As an historical aside on the origin of R symmetries, we note that Wess and Zumino [5] introduced an R quantum number as a weighting index labeling distinct representations of *