SQUARKS AND SPHALERONS

Electric charge and color breaking minima along third generation squar k directions do appear in the Minimal Supersymetric Standard Model for particular regions of the corresponding supersymmetric parameters A(t ), mu, tan beta, m(Q)(2) and m(U)(2). We have studied possible instabi lities of electroweak sphalerons along non-trivial squark configuratio ns. We have found that instabilities along the latter lie in the regio n of parameter space where the electroweak minimum is not the global o ne. Thus charge and color conservation imply that the standard electro weak sphaleron is not destabilized along squark directions. (C) 1997 E lsevier Science B.V.