Limit on the production of a light vector gauge boson in φ meson decays with the KLOE detector

We present a new limit on the production of a light dark-force mediator with the KLOE detector at DA Phi NE. This boson, called U, has been searched for in the decay phi -> eta U, U -> e(+)e(-), analyzing the. decay eta -> pi(0)pi(0)pi(0) in a data sample of 1.7 fb(-1). No structures are observed in the e(+)e(-) invariant mass distribution over the background. This search is combined with a previous result obtained from the decay eta -> pi(+)pi(-)pi(0), increasing the sensitivity. We set an upper limit at 90% C.L. on the ratio between the U boson coupling constant and the fine structure constant of alpha'/alpha < 1.7 x 10(-5) for 30 < M-U < 400 MeV and alpha'/alpha <= 8 x 10(-6) for the sub-region 50 < M-U <210 MeV. This result assumes the Vector Meson Dominance expectations for the phi eta gamma* transition form factor. The dependence of this limit on the transition form factor has also been studied. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.