Search for VBF production of the Higgs boson and a photon decaying to $b$-quarks with the ATLAS detector

A search for the $b\bar b$ decay of the Standard Model Higgs boson produced through vector boson fusion in association with a high transverse energy ($E_T$) photon has been conducted with the ATLAS detector. The high-$E_T$ photon provides a distinct signature for both triggering and reducing the large QCD jet background present in the inclusive $b\bar bjj$ signature. The talk will focus on new trigger strategy implemented in 2016 data taking to target the specific final state as well as the implementation of the multivariate strategy for the signal extraction. This analysis has been combined with a complementary analysis in the more inclusive $b\bar bjj$ final state, which results in a significant improvement in the sensitivity. Results with pp collision data collected in 2015 and 2016 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV are presented.