Welcome to the ALICE collaboration

Our mission

 
Welcome to the ALICE websiteThe ALICE Collaboration has built a dedicated detector to exploit the unique physics potential of nucleus-nucleus collisions at LHC energies. Our aim is to study the physics of strongly interacting matter at the highest energy densities reached so far in the laboratory. In such condition, an extreme phase of matter - called the quark-gluon plasma - is formed. Our universe is thought to have been in such a primordial state for the first few millionths of a second after the Big Bang. The properties of such a phase are key issues for Quantum Chromo Dynamics, the understanding of confinement-deconfinement and chiral phase transitions. For this purpose, we are carrying out a comprehensive study of the hadrons, electrons, muons and photons produced in the collisions of heavy nuclei. ALICE is also studying proton-proton and proton-nucleus collisions both as a comparison with nucleus-nucleus collisions and in their own right.
 

Latest ALICE Submission

Measurement of deuteron spectra and elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at $\mathbf{\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV at the LHC
The transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra and elliptic flow coefficient ($v_2$) of deuterons and anti-deuterons at mid-rapidity ($|y|1.8$ GeV/$c$ within the experimental uncertainties. The measurement of the coalescence parameter $B_2$ is performed, showing a $p_{\rm T}$ dependence in contrast with the simplest coalescence model, which fails to reproduce also the measured $v_2$ coefficient. In addition, the coalescence parameter $B_2$ and the elliptic flow coefficient in the 20-40% centrality interval are compared with the AMPT model which is able, in its version without string melting, to reproduce the measured $v_2$($p_{\rm T}$) and the $B_2$($p_{\rm T}$) trend.
arXiv
Searches for transverse momentum dependent flow vector fluctuations in Pb-Pb and p-Pb collisions at the LHC
The measurement of azimuthal correlations of charged particles is presented for Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=$ 2.76 TeV and p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=$ 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. These correlations are measured for the second, third and fourth order flow vector in the pseudorapidity region $|\eta|
 		arXiv
D-meson azimuthal anisotropy in mid-central Pb-Pb collisions at $\mathbf{\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02}$ TeV
The azimuthal anisotropy coefficient $v_2$ of prompt D$^0$, D$^+$, D$^{*+}$ and D$_s^+$ mesons was measured in mid-central (30-50% centrality class) Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV, with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The D mesons were reconstructed via their hadronic decays at mid-rapidity, $|y|
 		arXiv
Measuring K$^0_{\rm S}$K$^{\rm \pm}$ interactions using Pb-Pb collisions at ${\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76}$ TeV
We present the first ever measurements of femtoscopic correlations between the K$^0_{\rm S}$ and K$^{\rm \pm}$ particles. The analysis was performed on the data from Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV measured by the ALICE experiment. The observed femtoscopic correlations are consistent with final-state interactions proceeding via the $a_0(980)$ resonance. The extracted kaon source radius and correlation strength parameters for K$^0_{\rm S}$K$^{\rm -}$ are found to be equal within the experimental uncertainties to those for K$^0_{\rm S}$K$^{\rm +}$. Comparing the results of the present study with those from published identical-kaon femtoscopic studies by ALICE, mass and coupling parameters for the $a_0$ resonance are constrained. Our results are also compatible with the interpretation of the $a_0$ having a tetraquark structure over that of a diquark.
arXiv
Linear and non-linear flow modes in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} =$ 2.76 TeV
The second and the third order anisotropic flow, $V_{2}$ and $V_3$, are mostly determined by the corresponding initial spatial anisotropy coefficients, $\varepsilon_{2}$ and $\varepsilon_{3}$, in the initial density distribution. In addition to their dependence on the same order initial anisotropy coefficient, higher order anisotropic flow, $V_n$ ($n > 3$), can also have a significant contribution from lower order initial anisotropy coefficients, which leads to mode-coupling effects. In this Letter we investigate the linear and non-linear modes in higher order anisotropic flow $V_n$ for $n=4$, 5, and 6 in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurements are done for particles in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta|
arXiv

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