We present a search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a $Z$ boson in data collected with the CDF II detector at the Tevatron, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $9.45{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$. In events consistent with the decay of the Higgs boson to a bottom-quark pair and the $Z$ boson to electron or muon pairs, we set 95% credibility level upper limits on the $ZH$ production cross section times the $H\to b\overline{b}$ branching ratio as a function of Higgs boson mass. At a Higgs boson mass of $125\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$, we observe (expect) a limit of 7.1 (3.9) times the standard model value.

• Received 8 July 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.111803