Charge and CP symmetry breaking in two Higgs doublet models

We show that, for the most generic model with two Higgs doublets possessing a minimum that preserves the U (1) em symmetry, charge breaking (CB) cannot occur. If CB does not occur, the potential could have two different minima, and there is in principle no general argument to show which one is the deepest. The depth of the potential at a stationary point that breaks CB or CP, relative to the U(I)em preserving minimum, is proportional to the squared mass of the charged or pseudoscalar Higgs, respectively. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.