New patterns of natural R-parity violation with supersymmetric gauged flavor

We point out that supersymmetric gauged flavor models provide a realization of R-parity violation (RPV) that is natural in the sense that it does not lead to catastrophic proton decay for natural values of parameters in the theory. Within specific realizations of the idea, the relative strengths of the Delta B = 1 u(c)d(c)d(c) type RPV operators can be predicted. In particular, we present examples of gauged flavor models where RPV couplings depend on quark masses as (m(ui)m(djm)d(k) = m(t)(3))(n) where n = 1 or n = 1/2. Some phenomenological implications of these models are discussed.