Measuring the supersymmetry lagrangian

The parameters of the supersymmetry Lagrangian are the place where experiment and theory will meet. We show that measuring them is harder than has been thought, particularly because of large unavoidable dependences on phases. Measurements are only guaranteed if a lepton collider with a polarized beam and sufficient energy to produce the relevant sparticles is available. Current limits on superpartner masses, WIMPs, and the supersymmetric Higgs are not general, and need re-evaluation. We also tentatively define the MRM (Minimum Reasonable Model), whose parameters may be measurable at LEP, FNAL and LHC. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.