On the Smallness of the Cosmological Constant in SUGRA Models Inspired by Degenerate Vacua

In the no-scale supergravity global symmetries protect local supersymmetry and a zero value for the cosmological constant. The breakdown of these symmetries, which ensures the vanishing of the vacuum energy density, results in a set of degenerate vacua with broken and unbroken supersymmetry leading to the natural realisation of the multiple point principle (MPP). In the MPP inspired SUGRA models the cosmological constant is naturally tiny.