Flavour-dependent CP violation and natural suppression of the electric dipole moments

We revisit the supersymmetric CP problem acid find that it can be naturally resolved if the origin of CP violation is closely related to the origin of flavour structures. In this case, the supersymmetry breaking dynamics do not bring in any new CP-violating phases. This mechanism requires hermitian Yukawa matrices which naturally arise in models with a U(3) flavour symmetry. The neutron electric dipole moment (NEDM) is predicted to be within one-two orders of magnitude below the current experimental limit. The model also predicts a strong correlation between A(CP)(b --> s gamma) and the NEDM. The strong CP problem is mitigated although not completely solved. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.