Search at the Mainz Microtron for light massive gauge bosons relevant for the muon g-2 anomaly

A massive, but light, Abelian U(1) gauge boson is a well-motivated possible signature of physics beyond the standard model of particle physics. In this Letter, the search for the signal of such a U(1) gauge boson in electron-positron pair production at the spectrometer setup of the A1 Collaboration at the Mainz Microtron is described. Exclusion limits in the mass range of 40  MeV/c^{2} to 300  MeV/c^{2}, with a sensitivity in the squared mixing parameter of as little as ε^{2}=8×10^{-7} are presented. A large fraction of the parameter space has been excluded where the discrepancy of the measured anomalous magnetic moment of the muon with theory might be explained by an additional U(1) gauge boson.