IMPLICATIONS OF NONUNIVERSALITY OF SOFT TERMS IN SUPERSYMMETRIC GRANDUNIFIED THEORIES

Most discussions of supersymmetric grand unified theories assume unive rsality of the soft supersymmetry breaking terms at the grand scale. W e point out that the behaviour of these theories might change signific antly in the presence of non-universal soft terms. Particularly in SO( 10)-like models with a large value of tan beta (and assuming Yukawa co upling unification for the third generation) we observe a decisive cha nge of predictions, allowing the presence of relatively light gauginos as well as small supersymmetric corrections to the b-quark mass. Some results remain rather stable, including the mu-M(1/2) correlation. Mo dels with small tan beta seem to be less affected by non-universality which mainly leads to the new possibility of small m(0) (i.e. the squa rk and slepton soft mass parameter), excluded in the universal case.