The extension of Standard Model made by inclusion of additional U(1) gauge Lμ−Lτ symmetry can explain the difference between the measured and the predicted value of the muon magnetic moment and solve the tension in B meson decays. This model predicts the existence of a new, light Z′ vector boson, predominantly coupled to second and third generation leptons, whose interaction with electrons is due to a loop mechanism involving muons and taus. In this work, we present a rigorous evaluation of the upper limits in the Z′ parameter space, obtained from the analysis of the data collected by the NA64-e experiment at CERN SPS, that performed a search for light dark matter with 2.84×1011 electrons impinging with 100 GeV on an active thick target. The resulting limits touch the muon g−2 preferred band for values of the Z′ mass of order of 1 MeV, while the sensitivity projections for the future high-statistics NA64-e runs demonstrate the power of the electrons/positron beam approach in this theoretical scenario.

• Received 10 June 2022
• Accepted 2 August 2022
• Corrected 19 January 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.106.032015

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP³.

Published by the American Physical Society