Heavy bottom squark mass in the light gluino and light bottom squark scenario

Restrictive upper bounds on the heavy bottom squark mass when the gluino and one bottom squark are both light are based on the predicted reduction of $R_b$ (the fraction of $Z$ hadronic decays to $b \bar b$ pairs) in such a scenario. These bounds are found to be relaxed by the process $Z \to b\bar{\tilde b}{\tilde g}/{\bar b}{\tilde b}{\tilde g}$, which may partially compensate for the reduction of $R_b$. The relaxation of bounds on the top squark and the scale-dependence of the strong coupling constant are also discussed.