Update of the search for charginos nearly mass-degenerate with the lightest neutralino

The data collected by DELPHI in 1998 at the centre-of-mass energy of 189 GeV have been used to update the search for charginos nearly mass-degenerate with the lightest supersymmetric particle, which is assumed to be the lightest neutralino. Mass differences below \Delta M = 3 GeV/c^2 are considered. No excess of events with respect to the Standard Model expectation has been observed, and exclusions in the plane of \Delta M versus chargino mass are given. The new \Delta M independent lower limit on the mass of the chargino is 62.4 GeV/c^2 in the higgsino scenario (which includes the gaugino mass unification scenario), if all sfermions are heavier than the lightest chargino. In the approximat…