First constraints on the $L_\mu-L_\tau$ explanation of the muon $g-2$ anomaly from NA64-$e$ at CERN

Abstract

The inclusion of an additional $U(1)$ gauge $L_\mu-L_\tau$ symmetry would release the tension between the measured and the predicted value of the anomalous muon magnetic moment: this paradigm assumes the existence of a new, light $Z^\prime$ vector boson, with dominant coupling to $\mu$ and $\tau$ leptons and interacting with electrons via a loop mechanism. The $L_\mu-L_\tau$ model can also explain the Dark Matter relic abundance, by assuming that the $Z'$ boson acts as a "portal" to a new Dark Sector of particles in Nature, not charged under known interactions. In this work we present the results of the $Z'$ search performed by the NA64-$e$ experiment at CERN SPS, that collected $\sim 9\times10^{11}$ 100 GeV electrons impinging on an active thick target. Despite the suppressed $Z'$ production yield with an electron beam, NA64-$e$ provides the first accelerator-based results excluding the $g-2$ preferred band of the $Z'$ parameter space in the 1 keV $ < m_{Z'} \lesssim 2$ MeV range, in complementarity with the limits recently obtained by the NA64-$\mu$ experiment with a muon beam.