Search for the Higgs boson produced in association with Z → l+l- using the matrix element method at CDF II

We present a search for associated production of the standard model Higgs boson and a Z boson where the Z boson decays to two leptons and the Higgs decays to a pair of b quarks in p (p) over bar collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron. We use event probabilities based on standard model matrix elements to construct a likelihood function of the Higgs content of the data sample. In a CDF data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2: 7 fb(-1) we see no evidence of a Higgs boson with a mass between 100 GeV=c(2) and 150 GeV/c(2). We set 95% confidence level upper limits on the cross section for ZH production as a function of the Higgs boson mass m(H); the limit is 8.2 times the standard model prediction at m(H) 115 GeV/c(2).