Search for the Standard Model Higgs boson produced by vector-boson fusion in 8 TeV pp collisions and decaying to bottom quarks with the ATLAS detector

A search with the ATLAS detector is presented for the Standard Model Higgs boson produced by vector-boson fusion and decaying to a pair of bottom quarks, using 20.2 ${fb}^{-1}$ of LHC proton--proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV. The signal is searched for as a resonance in the invariant mass distribution of a pair of jets containing $b$-hadrons in vector-boson-fusion candidate events. The yield is measured to be $-0.8 \pm 2.3$ times the Standard Model cross-section for a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV. The upper limit on the cross-section times the branching ratio is found to be 4.4 times the Standard Model cross-section at the 95% confidence level, consistent with the expected limit value of 5.4 (5.7) in the background-only (Standard Model production) hypothesis.