Stabilized singlets in supergravity as a source of the μ parameter

We demonstrate a new and generic mechanism which stabilizes a singlet in supergravity-coupled supersymmetry in the presence of an extended gauge symmetry. Such a symmetry will be broken down to the standard model by the supergravity interactions near the scale of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking in the hidden sector (similar to 10(10-11) GeV). The resulting singlet expectation value is stabilized and naturally of order the gravitino mass, providing therefore a weak-scale mass for the Higgs fields of the supersymmetric standard model (a mu parameter). The resulting low-energy theory is the minimal supersymmetric standard model, with all new fields decoupling at the intermediate scale.