Search for invisible decays of the Higgs boson produced through vector boson fusion at $\sqrt{s} = 13~\mathrm{TeV}$

A search for invisible decays of the Higgs boson is performed using $13~\mathrm{TeV}$ proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $35.9~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$. The search targets the production of the Higgs boson through vector boson fusion. The data are found to be in agreement with the predicted background contributions from standard model processes. An observed (expected) upper limit of $0.28~(0.21)$, at $95\%$ confidence level, is placed on the invisible branching fraction of the $125~\mathrm{GeV}$ Higgs boson. Upper limits are also computed on the product of the cross section and branching fraction of a scalar Higgs boson-like particle, with mass ranging between $110$ and $1000~\mathrm{GeV}$. Finally, a combination of several analyses searching for invisible decays of the Higgs boson, based on $35.9~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of data collected by the CMS detector in 2016, is performed. An observed (expected) upper limit of $0.24~(0.18)$ is placed on the invisible branching fraction. This result is also interpreted in the context of Higgs-portal dark matter models, setting upper bounds on the spin-independent dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section.