NATURALLY SUPPRESSED FLAVOR VIOLATIONS IN MODELS WITH 2 HIGGS DOUBLETS

A class of SU(2)XU(1) models with two Higgs doublets and appropriate discrete symmetry are considered. Unlike the conventional discrete symmetry, which eliminates flavor changing neutral currents (FCNC), the imposed symmetry naturally leads to suppression and the hierarchy (F12) < (F13) < (F23) in the flavor changing couplings F(ij) of Higgs to generations i and j. As a consequence, the lower bound of O(TeV) on Higgs masses coming from processes like K(L) --> mu+mu- and K0-KBAR0 mixing gets relaxed and hence perturbative unitarity is not violated in these models, unlike in conventional models with FCNCs. Restrictions on KM elements following from epsilon and B0-BBAR0 mixing are studied in cases where neutral Higgs provide a significant contribution to the latter.