ALICE Newsletter No. 395
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No.395,
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ONGOING AND UPCOMING EVENTS
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Monday, 2 February 2026, 07:00 at ARC: The first shift crew of 2026, together with run coordination and detector experts, ready to kick off the resumption of shift operations and cosmics data taking!
- ALICE Mini Week: 16 - 20 Feb 2026
- ALICE Muon Week: 23 - 27 Feb 2026
- ALICE Calendar 2026
- ALICE approvals calendar for 2026
NEWS and ANNOUNCEMENTS
- ecent PhD in ALICE: Congratulations to our new Doctor:
- Dr. Victor Valencia Torres
- Thesis Title: "Investigation of J/ψ collectivity in Pb-Pb collisions using multiparticle cumulants technique with ALICE detector and exploration of cold nuclear matter effects with Drell-Yan production"
- CDS link: https://repository.cern/records/wdgzm-k0961
- Defence Date: 18 November 2025, IMT ATLANTIQUE
- Supervisors: Marie Germain, Gines Martines, and Maxime Guilbaud
- Service Work: Implementing the visualisation of the Muon chamber cluster map with the goal of creation of a reject list to match MC and data for the muon chambers.
- Dr. Laura Huhta
- Thesis Title: "Probing QCD via dijet invariant mass in pp and p–Pb collisions and performance of forward jets with ALICE FoCal"
- CDS link: https://repository.cern/records/6adha-6r610
- Defence Date: 17 December 2025, University of Jyväskylä
- Supervisors: Sami Räsänen and Dong Jo Kim
- Service Work: ParticipationFoCal test beam efforts and Run Manager in 2025.
- Dr. Amanda Flores
- Thesis Title: "Heavy-Flavor Jet Fragmentation and Jet-Medium Interactions in Pb--Pb Collisions"
- CDS link: https://repository.cern/records/7dbs6-faf09
- Defence Date: 12 November 2025, UT Austin
- Supervisors: Deepa Thomas and Christina Markert
- Service Work: Contributed to formatting ITS clusters and tracks in the O2 framework for event display.
- Dr. Victor Valencia Torres
- Call for plenary speaker nominations for LHCP2026, Paris, France, from 18 to 22 May 2026: (nomination deadline: 18 Feb)
- Overview of recent ALICE results (20+5)
- ALICE Upgrade (20+4), and
- 3 multi- experimental talks:
- Machine Learning for trigger, reconstruction and generation (multi-exp) (30)
- Investigating interactions in the quark-gluon plasma with high pT and heavy flavour (multi-exp) (30)
- Ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions (multi-exp) (30)
Everybody is welcome to suggest speakers for these important talks. Self-nominations are also welcome.
Please send your proposals to ALICE-cc-chairs@cern.ch by Wednesday 18 February 18. A brief motivation of the reasons behind your suggestions is appreciated.
- CERN/ALICE-CIAE Joint Lab launched:
On 28 January, the inaugural meeting of the CERN/ALICE - China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) Joint Lab was held in Beijing Science and Technology Park
- INFN Villi Award to Francesca Ercolessi:
Dr. Francesca Ercolessi (University of Bologna) was awarded the INFN prize “Villi prize for the best PhD thesis in Nuclear Physics" of 2025. Congratulations Francesca! - Accelerator Report: Run 3 operations counting down to LS3" By Bettina Mikulec, Leader of the Operations Group (BE-OP)
- "Take part in the 2026 Mentoring@CERN programme": Registration will be open from 1 to 28 February, and the mentoring round will run from April to December, with flexible meeting schedules to suit your needs.
- "Building a culture for success" by Mark Thomson, Director-General of CERN
As we prepare to implement the High-Luminosity LHC and secure approval of a flagship collider to follow it, we must work together to create the best possible environment for success.
- "Help shape how CERN improves" New year, new ways of working. Here’s our chance to suggest which processes could be improved at CERN.
- "ALICE welcomes its new management". More about the new management on the ALICE website.
EVENTS OF INTEREST
- LHC Seminar, Tuesday 10 Feb 2026, 11:00, Main Auditorium (CERN): "First measurement of the decay-time-integrated CP asymmetry in decays at LHCb" by Jamie Gooding (Technische Universitaet Dortmund (DE))
- TH Cosmo Coffee, Wednesday 11 Feb 2026, 11:30: "Quirks Live in Cool Universes" by Graham Douglas Kribs (University of Oregon (US))
- Theory Colloquia, Wednesday 11 Feb 2026, 14:00: "Are black holes natural?" by Julio Parra-Martinez (IHES)
- TH BSM Forum, Thursday 12 Feb 2026, 13:30: "A building body of evidence for dark matter self-interactions from astrophysics" by David Harvey
NEW PAPERS ON THE ARXIV
PAPERS IN THE COLLABORATION REVIEW
Papers currently open for comments can be inspected using the link: Paper in Collaboration Review (Open for Comments).
NEWS FROM POINT 2
- ALICE: YETS activity is continuing.
- YETS activity is continuing.
- On Monday 2 February, the data taking started, with the goal of collecting cosmics data for the central barrel alignment.
- 81 hours (34%) of cosmic data have been collected so far.
- On Wednesday, 4 February the test on the ramping of the magnets - both dipole and solenoid - was successfully performed, and in parallel activities for the FIT gain calibration and for the blimp test by EP-DT took place.
- On 12 February (or, as a backup, on 17 February) the machine will proceed with the annual LHC-Experiment Handshake test and, in preparation for it, during 4-5 February, tests on the DCS and on the LHCIF have been successfully performed with the experts.
- Shift operations will resume on Monday, 2 February with the cosmics data taking.
- Open shift blocks (to be filled urgently):
If you have any question about the training and, overall, on how to get ready to cover these earlier shifts do not hesitate to contact us (alice-rc@cern.ch). Dedicated trainings can be arranged.
- DCS, ECS, and QC expert shifts starting from 19 May.
CONFERENCES
CURRENT CONFERENCES AND SCHOOLS (starting this week)
None
SPEAKING OPPORTUNITIES (events within 3 months or deadline within 1 month)
- HEPiX Spring 2026 Workshop, Lisbon, Portugal, 20 April, abstract deadline 1 April
- 37th Rencontres de Blois - Particle Physics and Cosmology, Blois, France, 10-15 May 2026, abstract deadline 28 February
- Invitation plenary (25+5 min)talk on “Review of ALICE results” + possibility of 2 to 4 plenary on specific topic -> contact CC chairs
- Rencontres de Moriond 2026, La Thuile, 22 March, Registration deadline 8 February
- BEACH2026: 16th International Conference on Beauty, Charm, Hyperons in Hadronic Interactions, Florence, Italy, 8 June, abstract deadline 28 February
- 17th International Conference on Nuclear Reaction Mechanisms, Varenna, Italy, 14 June, abstract deadline 31 January
- LHCP 2026: 14th Large Hadron Collider Physics Confernece, Paris, France, 18 - 22 May, anstract (posters) deadline: 20 Marc
- CENTRAL preparation for talks
- WPCF 2026: 18th Workshop on Particle Correlations and Femtoscopy, Budapest, Hungary, 18-22 May, abstract deadline: 30 March
. - BEACH 2026: XVI International Conference on Beauty, Charm, Hyperons in Hadronic Interactions, Florence, Italy, 8-12 June, abstract deadline: 28 February
- 17th International Conference on Nuclear Reaction Mechanisms, Varenna, Italy, 14-19 June, abstract deadline 10 February
- QCD@Work 2026 - International Workshop on Quantum Chromodynamics - Theory and Experiment, Trani, Italy, 16-19 June, abstract deadline 1 April
- Invitation plenary (25+5 min)talk on “Review of recent results from LHC collaboration in light colliding systems(25’) and recent results from ALICE and future perspectives” + possibility of contributed talks on specific topic -> contact CC chairs
- Invitation plenary (25+5 min)talk on “Review of recent results from LHC collaboration in light colliding systems(25’) and recent results from ALICE and future perspectives” + possibility of contributed talks on specific topic -> contact CC chairs
- 18th International Workshop on Meson Physics(MESON2026) KRAKÓW, POLAND , 26 June, abstract deadline 25 March
- 43rd International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP 2026),Natal, Brazil, 30 July, abstract deadline 9 February,
- CENTRAL SUBMISSION for talks, contact conveneers if interested to present
SCHOOLS
- International Doctorate School "Frontiers in Nuclear and Hadronic Physics 2026" (FNHP2026), Firenze, Italy, 16-28 Feb.
- INFN School of Statistics 2026 (INFNStat2026), Caserta, Italy, 14-19 June, registration deadline 13 March
- QCD Master Class 2026 (school), Saint Jacut de la mer, France, 28 August - 10 September, registration deadline 31 March
- ISOTDAQ 2026: International School of Trigger and Data Acquisition, Bucharest, Romania, 1-10 Jul 2026, Registration deadline: 28 Feb.
This the 16th of a series of International Schools dedicated to introduce those with an education in physics, engineering or computing (ranging from undergrads to postdocs) to the "arts and crafts" of triggering and acquiring data for physics experiments.
- 2026 European School of High-Energy Physics, Ostróda, Poland, 19 Jun - 2 Jul 2026, Deadline for applications: 20 Feb.
The School is targeted particularly at students in experimental HEP who are in the final years of work towards their PhDs, although candidates at an earlier or later stage in their studies may be considered.
- Third Advanced School on the Operation of Accelerators (ATSOA2026), CERN, Switzerland, 20-24 April, registration deadline 31 January
| Upcoming major conferences | ||
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22-27 Mar 2026 |
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18-22 May 2026 |
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21-26 Jun 2026 |
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30 July - 5 Aug 2026 |
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JUNIOR'S CORNER
Message from Junior Representatives (Bianca, Rohaan, Sara)
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- ALICE Run 3 Analysis Resources: a collection of all resources and news that can be helpful for people engaged in the analysis of ALICE Run 3 data. This is especially beneficial for those new to the Run 3 data analysis.
- Link to all ALICE Theses
- ALICE Theses website
- Guidelines for ALICE Thesis Video: a ~3-min video summarising the key results of the PhD thesis.
- ALICE Run 3 Analysis Resources: a collection of all resources and news that can be helpful for people engaged in the analysis of ALICE Run 3 data. This is especially beneficial for those new to the Run 3 data analysis.
OUTREACH NEWS
- ALICE visits: visits to ALICE cavern are possible till 19 February~
- ALICE visits this week:
- Saturday 31 January 2026
- CELR (school), Romania
- colleagues’ friends, France, Austria, Germany
- IT Science Explorers, Poland
- Sunday 1 February 2026
- ALICE member’s friends, Switzerland
- Monday 2 February 2026
- Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
- VUB physics students, Belgium
- Radioclub EIT EA4RCT, Spain
- ALICE members’ friends, Norway
- Tuesday 3 February 2026
- Westside School Gibraltar, UK
- Hellenic College, Thessaloniki, Greece
- High School of Dionysos, Greece
- Hochalpines Institut Ftan AG, Switzerland
- ALICE Open visit for CERN colleagues
- Wednesday 4 February 2026
- Gymnazium Jana Papanka, Slovakia
- 6th High School of Nea Smyrni, Greece
- ALICE Open visit for CERN colleagues
- CERN colleagues from IT-CD-PI; colleague’s friends, France; participants of Theory Winter School
- Thursday 5 February 2026
- Externato Marista de Lisboa, Portugal
- professional visitors from Spain
- University students from JKU Linz, Austria
- University students from Frankfurt, Germany
- Friday 6 February 2026
- Hatchend High School, UK
- Saturday 31 January 2026
DIVERSITY
- ALICE Diversity Office website can be accessed here. Your feedback is important. You can send us an email that will be treated confidentially by using the email address: alice-diversity-office@cern.ch or send us an anonymous message by using this form.