The production rate and kinematics of photons produced in association with $Z$ bosons are studied using $2{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ of $p\overline{p}$ collision data collected at the Collider Detector at Fermilab. The cross section for $p\overline{p}\to {\ell }^{+}{\ell }^{-}\gamma +X$ (where the leptons $\ell$ are either muons or electrons with dilepton mass $M_{\ell \ell }>40\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$, and where the photon has transverse energy $E_T^{\gamma }>7\mathrm{GeV}$ and is well separated from the leptons) is $4.6\pm 0.2(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.3(\mathrm{syst})\pm 0.3(\mathrm{lum})\mathrm{pb}$, which is consistent with standard model expectations. We use the photon $E_T$ distribution from $Z\gamma$ events where the $Z$ has decayed to ${\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$, $e^{+}{e}^{-}$, or $\nu \overline{\nu }$ to set limits on anomalous (non standard model) trilinear couplings between photons and $Z$ bosons.

• Received 7 April 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.82.031103