Searches for invisible decays of the Higgs boson in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7, 8, and 13 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports on searches for invisible decays of the Higgs boson using CMS data at multiple energies, setting upper limits on the decay rate and exploring implications for dark matter models.

Contribution

It provides the first combined limits on Higgs invisible decays across different production channels at multiple energies.

Findings

Observed upper limit on invisible branching fraction: 0.24

Expected upper limit on invisible branching fraction: 0.23

Results constrain Higgs-portal dark matter models

Abstract

Searches for invisible decays of the Higgs boson are presented. The data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC correspond to integrated luminosities of 5.1, 19.7, and 2.3 inverse femtobarns at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV, respectively. The search channels target Higgs boson production via gluon fusion, vector boson fusion, and in association with a vector boson. Upper limits are placed on the branching fraction of the Higgs boson decay to invisible particles, as a function of the assumed production cross sections. The combination of all channels, assuming standard model production, yields an observed (expected) upper limit on the invisible branching fraction of 0.24 (0.23) at the 95% confidence level. The results are also interpreted in the context of Higgs-portal dark matter models.