Flavour violation in general supergravity

We reappraise the flavour changing neutral currents (FCNC) problem in string-derived supergravity models. We overview and classify possible sources of flavour violation and find that the problem often does not arise in classes of models which generate hierarchical Yukawa matrices. In such models, constraints from the K- and D-meson systems leave room for substantial flavour non-universality of the soft terms. The current B-physics experiments only begin to probe its natural range. Correlations among different observables can allow one to read off the chirality structure of flavour violating sources. We briefly discuss the lepton sector where the problem of FCNC is indeed serious and perhaps points at an additional symmetry or flavour universality. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.