Charge and colour breaking minima and constraints on the MSSM parameters Original Research Article

The MSSM potential can have unphysical minima deeper than the physically acceptable one. We point out that their presence is quite generic in SO(10) unification with supergravity mediated soft terms. However, at least for moderate values of tan β, the physically acceptable vacuum has a lifetime longer than the universe age. Furthermore, by discussing the evolution of the universe in an inflationary scenario, we show that the correct vacuum is the natural expectation. This is not the tendency in different cases of unphysical minima. Even in the SO(10) case, the weak assumptions necessary for this may prevent to use the νhu direction for baryogenesis à la Affleck-Dine.