Gaugino

In particle physics, a gaugino is the hypothetical superpartner of a gauge boson, as predicted by gauge theory combined with supersymmetry. They are fermions.

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In the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model the gauginos are

• gluino is the superpartner of the gluon, and hence carries colour charge.
• wino is the superpartner of the W boson.
• bino is the superpartner of the gauge boson corresponding to weak hypercharge. It mixes with one of the gauginos corresponding to weak isospin to give the photino and the zino.
• zino is the superpartner of the Z boson.
• photino is the superpartner of the photon.

In supergravity theories, the superpartner of a graviton is the gravitino.

Gauginos mix with higgsinos to form linear combinations ("mass eigenstates") called neutralinos (neutral) and charginos (charged). Since (in many models) the lighest neutralino is stable, it is a WIMP and a candidate for dark matter.

For more on neutralinos and dark matter, see: G. Bertone, D. Hooper, J. Silk (2005). "Particle Dark Matter: Evidence, Candidates and Constraints". Physics Reports, vol. 405: 279–390.