A framework for missing-energy searches with anomalous light vectors
We study light spin-1 gauge bosons coupled to electroweak-anomalous currents. For generic charge assignments, anomaly cancellation requires new fermions (anomalons) that are chiral under the new abelian symmetry and carry electroweak charges. If their masses arise from the breaking of the new gauge symmetry, integrating them out generates Wess-Zumino interactions fixed by mixed-anomaly matching, providing the infrared description of the theory. We classify minimal anomalon spectra, derive the corresponding effective interactions, and combine experimental constraints with finite-naturalness considerations to bound the UV completion scale. Motivated by recent NA62 and Belle II results, we then develop a unified phenomenological framework for the missing-energy signatures of these anomalous light vectors, focusing on scenarios where the new vector decays predominantly into neutrinos so that the leading probes are rare processes with invisible final states. As applications, we survey current and projected searches across flavour and electroweak observables, including $K\toπE_{\rm miss}$, $B\to K^{(*)}E_{\rm miss}$, and $Z\toγE_{\rm miss}$, and discuss their interplay with direct searches for anomalons.