ALICE Newsletter No. 397
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No.397,
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ONGOING AND UPCOMING EVENTS
Antonino Zichichi (1929 – 2026)
Professor Antonino Zichichi was an extraordinary scientist whose vision, dedication, and leadership have left a lasting mark on particle physics. It was his leadership that made the ALICE Time-of-Flight detector possible - a cornerstone of the experiment that continues to enable precision particle identification and serves the scientific community worldwide.
- ALICE Muon Week 2026 at Torino: 23 - 27 Feb 2026
- LHCC 165 Week - 2-5 March 2026
- Open Session: Monday 2 March, Main Auditorium (CERN): "ALICE Status Report" by Francesca Carnesecchi (INFN e Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (IT))
- Open Session: Monday 2 March, Main Auditorium (CERN): "ALICE Status Report" by Francesca Carnesecchi (INFN e Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (IT))
- ALICE UPC Workshop: Katowice, Poland, 15-19 June 2026
- Mentoring@CERN 2026 - Join as a Mentor This Year!
Please complete your registration by the end of February.
- ALICE Calendar 2026
- ALICE approvals calendar for 2026
NEWS and ANNOUNCEMENTS
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- Recent PhD in ALICE: Congratulations to our new Doctor:
- Dr. Swati Saha
- Thesis title: "Probing QCD matter via fluctuations, correlations, and flow in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC"
- Submitted to: Homi Bhabha National Institute and National Institute of Science Education and Research, India
- Thesis defense: 19 December 2025
- CDS: https://repository.cern/records/4rqmv-caw79
- Supervisor: Prof. Bedangadas Mohanty
- Service work: Track properties analysis and tracking quality control under the Data Preparation Group (DPG), contributing to quality assurance of AO2D data and Hyperloop train operation under Analysis Coordination, supporting organized analysis
- Dr. Swati Saha
- Conference Comittee members positions available:
- expertise in LF, Detectors/upgrades and HF are needed.
- please send your nomination (self nominations are welcome) interest to CC chairs: Alice-cc-chairs@cern.ch before 13 March
- "Accelerator Report: The accelerator complex is gradually waking up from the winter shutdown" by Matteo Solfaroli
EVENTS OF INTEREST
- Detector Seminar, Friday 20 Feb 2026, 11:00: "The Silicon Electron Multiplier: Concept and first Results" by Victor Coco (CERN)
- QCD Seminars, Monday 23 Feb 2026, 14:00: "The Simplest B Decay, Precisely" by Claudia Cornella
- LHC Seminar, Tuesday 24 Feb 2026, 11:00: "Combined measurements and interpretations of Higgs boson production and decay in CMS" by Jonathon Mark Langford (Imperial College (GB))
- QTI Seminars, Wednesday 25 Feb 2026, 09:30: "Quantum sensing for axion dark matter detection" by Alejandro Díaz-Morcillo (Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena), Benito Gimeno Martínez (IFIC), Igor García Irastorza (U. Zaragoza)
- TH Cosmo Coffee, Wednesday 25 Feb 2026, 11:30: "Dynamically generated tilt of isocurvature fluctuations" by Saarik Kalia (University of Minnesota)
- Theory Colloquia, Thursday 26 Feb 2026, 14:00: "A physics community where everyone can thrive? Why is this important, what might it look like, and how might we build it?" by Judith Hillier (University of Oxford)
- CERN Colloquium, Thursday 26 Feb 2026, 16:30, Main Auditorium (CERN): "Towards a Future Flagship Collider at CERN - The European Strategy for Particle Physics" by Karl Jakobs (University of Freiburg (DE))
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 finished, and ALICE cavern has been patrolled and closed on Wednesday afternoon.
- ALICE is proceeding with the collection of cosmics data for the central barrel alignment: 370 hours have been collected so far, corresponding to 154% of the target.
- On Wednesday, 18 February: further tests on the ALICE solenoid power converter were performed to assess the operational status of the thyristors.
- On Thursday, 19 February: the second session of the Annual LHC-EXP Handshake and Communications Test was successfully performed.
- YETS activity is finished, and ALICE cavern has been patrolled and closed on Wednesday afternoon.
- 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.
- DCS, ECS, and QC expert shifts starting from 19 May.
- Current Run Manager (9 - 22 Feb): Peiyu LI
CONFERENCES
CURRENT CONFERENCES AND SCHOOLS (starting this week)
- Lake Louise Winter Institute, Lake Louise, Canada, 1 March
- XXXIX Rencontres de Physique de la Vallée d'Aoste La Thuille, Aosta Valley, Italy, 1 March
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
- possibility of 2 to 4 plenary on specific topic -> contact CC chairs
- possibility of 2 to 4 plenary on specific topic -> contact CC chairs
- LHCP 2026: 14th Large Hadron Collider Physics Confernece, Paris, France, 18 - 22 May, anstract (posters) deadline: 20 March
- CENTRAL preparation for talks
- CENTRAL preparation for talks
- WPCF 2026: 18th Workshop on Particle Correlations and Femtoscopy, Budapest, Hungary, 18-22 May, abstract deadline: 30 March
- Invitation for 1 overview talks: Femtoscopy Overview, (contact CC chairs and PWG) + invitation to submit abstract in different tracks
- BEACH 2026: XVI International Conference on Beauty, Charm, Hyperons in Hadronic Interactions, Florence, Italy, 8-12 June, abstract deadline: 28 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
SCHOOLS
- NFN 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
- The XXII LNF Spring School “Bruno Touschek” in Nuclear, Subnuclear and Astroparticle Physics, INFN, Frascati, Italy, 11-15 May, registration deadline 30 April
JUNIOR'S CORNER
Message from Junior Representatives (Bianca, Rohaan, Sara)
- 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.
OUTREACH NEWS
- ALICE underground visits: Not possible this time!
- ALICE visits this week:
- Saturday 14 February 2026
- Notting Hill and Ealing High School, UK
- KNOCKK, France
- Karakaxis Education, Greece
- ISIS Giulio Natta, Italy
- ALICE open visit
- colleague’s’ friends, Italy
- Monday 16 February 2026
- University of Trieste, Italy
- University students MSP@UM, Netherlands
- Lions Clubs International, India
- colleagues’ friends, Czech Republic, Romania
- Tuesday 17 February 2026
- American Farm School, Thessaloniki, Greece
- Apostolos Pavlos High School, Thessaloniki, Greece
- Bishop Heber High School, UK
- Arts at CERN: Armin Linke, Germany
- Renaissance Fusion - alumni, France
- ALICE Juniors from Hungary
- Arts at CERN - Robin Mayer, Switzerland (filming)
- Rinacimento Culturale, Italy (filming)
- Wednesday 18 February 2026
- Tsiamoulis schools, Greece
- Norberto Rosa Bussoleno, Torino, Italy
- WIPO, France; colleague’s friends, Switzerland
- Thursday 19 February 2026
- The Heritage Private School, Cyprus, IIS Capirola, Italy
- Friday 20 February 2026
- IES Calatalifa, Spain; Liceo Majorana, Italy
- IES Calatalifa, Spain; Liceo Majorana, Italy
- Saturday 14 February 2026
- ALICE Virtual Visits
- Wednesday 18 February 2026 virtual visit for ALICE online masterclass for students in Greece
- Thursday 19 February 2026 virtual visit for ALICE masterclass in Messina
- International Masterclasses - Hands-on Particle physics
- Wednesday 18 February 2026 ALICE masterclasses were held in Salerno, Cagliari, Vienna and online for students in Greece
- Thursday 19 February 2026 ALICE masterclasses were held in Messina
- A New IPPOG Publication: "IPPOG: a global network for particle physics outreach and education", Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2026) 141:17
Recent Social Media Highlights:
- ALICE EMCal
- International Day of Women and Girls in Science
- Curiouser and curiouser: a riddle at the ALICE detector
- Strangeness at its extremes
- ALICE welcomes its new management
- Nature article: deuteron and antideuteron formation
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.