Search for lepton-flavor-violating τ decays into a lepton and a vector meson using the full Belle data sample

Abstract Charged-lepton-flavor-violation is predicted in several new physics scenarios. We update the analysis of τ lepton decays into a light charged lepton (ℓ = e ± or μ ± ) and a vector meson (V 0 = ρ 0, ϕ, ω, K *0, or K ¯ $$ \overline{K} $$ *0) using 980 fb −1 of data collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB collider. No significant excess of such signal events is observed, and thus 90% credibility level upper limits are set on the τ → ℓV 0 branching fractions in the range of (1.7–4.3) × 10 −8. These limits are improved by 30% on average from the previous results.