ALICE Newsletter No. 411
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No.411,
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ONGOING AND UPCOMING EVENTS
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26 May 2026: Start of the LHC heavy-ion run (till 16 June)
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- "166th LHCC Meeting - OPEN Session" 1 June 2026, 14:30 hrs. ALICE Status Report will be presented by Krystian Roslon (Warsaw University of Technology (PL)) at 16:50 hrs.
- 7th ALICE Upgrade Week: Calaserena Resort, Geremeas, Cagliari, 14-18 September 2026:
- ALICE UPC Workshop: Katowice, Poland, 15-19 June 2026
- ALICE Calendar 2026
- ALICE approvals calendar for 2026
- 2027 ALICE Meetings Calendar
NEWS and ANNOUNCEMENTS
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- Call for new CC members for CF, LF and EM deadline 12 June. Send mail to alice-cc-chairs@cern.ch
- New short-term unplanned medical, death and disability insurance for MPAs
- Machine Learning for Enhancing Data Reconstruction and Simulation in ALICE
- "Accelerator Report: From protons to ions – the LHC and its injectors prepare for the Run 3 finale" - 21 May 2026 - by Bettina Mikulec, Theodoros Argyropoulos, Francesco Velotti
- "The public consultation process for the Future Circular Collider (FCC) project begins in Switzerland and France" - 13 May 2026
- The public consultation process for the Future Circular Collider (FCC) project begins in Switzerland and France
- "Inclusion Matters: CERN’s new participatory inclusion initiative" A new “Inclusion Matters.” initiative invites the CERN community to co-create 50 visible and tangible inclusion actions by 2030
EVENTS OF INTEREST
- BE Seminars, Friday 29 May 2026, 16:00: "Efficient representation and symplectic integration of magnetic fields on curved reference frames for improved synchrotron design" by Silke Van Der Schueren (CERN - La Sapienza)
- QCD Seminars, Monday 1 Jun 2026, 14:00: "Gauge Theory Bootstrap: predicting pion dynamics from QCD" by Yifei He
- 166th LHCC Meeting - OPEN Session: 1 Jun 2026, 14:00, Main Auditorium (CERN)
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
- LHC and ALICE
- LHC is continuing with the intensity ramp up toward the PbPb physics production, and is currently carrying out the vdM programs of the different experiments. In preparation for the heavy-ion data taking, ALICE performed a background test on Sunday to assess the situation with the negative/negative magnet polarities, and the preliminary results are compatible with what have been observed last year. A possible setting of the LHC has been identified that could possibly mitigate the background reported in ALICE in the -/- configuration; the final intensity step will confirm the feasibility of the running conditions. On Wednesday, ALICE completed the PbPb vdM program.
- LHC is continuing with the intensity ramp up toward the PbPb physics production, and is currently carrying out the vdM programs of the different experiments. In preparation for the heavy-ion data taking, ALICE performed a background test on Sunday to assess the situation with the negative/negative magnet polarities, and the preliminary results are compatible with what have been observed last year. A possible setting of the LHC has been identified that could possibly mitigate the background reported in ALICE in the -/- configuration; the final intensity step will confirm the feasibility of the running conditions. On Wednesday, ALICE completed the PbPb vdM program.
- Open shift blocks:
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.
- a partial SL expert block starting on June 5th (N)
- a partial DCS expert block on May 30th (N)
- a partial QC expert block starting on June 4th (AA-NN)
- a full DCS expert block starting on June 4th (MM-AA-NN)
Since we are entering into the heavy-ion phase, having a full crew operating ALICE is essential for a successful data taking and for the completion of our flagship physics program, so we kindly ask you to help us in filling these blocks.
- Run Manager (19-31 May 2026): Yael Antonio VASQUEZ BELTRAN
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CONFERENCES
CURRENT CONFERENCES AND SCHOOLS (starting this week)
None
SPEAKING OPPORTUNITIES (events within 3 months or deadline within 1 month)
- XV International Conference on New Frontiers in Physics, 19-30 Aug, Kolymbari, Greece, Abstract submission open.
- Opportunities for One plenary talk on "ALICE Highlights" and Overview highlight plenary talks from each working group (physics, software, trigger/DAQ, detectors, etc). Please contact CC chairs.
- Corfu Summer Institute, Workshop on the Standard Model and Beyond, 23 Aug - 1 Sep, Corfu, Greece
- Opportunities for One review talk from ALICE (1 hr) and Short young-scientist talks (15+5 mins). Please contact CC chairs.
- NSTAR 2026, Seville, Spain, 7-11 Sep, abstract deadline 30 Jun
- EMMI workshop on Light-Ion Collisions, 21-25 Sep, Heidelberg University, Germany; deadline: 1 July.
- Opportunities for an overview talk on recent experimental results from light-ion collision systems and one to three abstracts for short contributions (12+3 min) by 1 July.
- 12th International Workshop on Semiconductor Pixel Detectors for Particles and Imaging (PIXEL2026), 8-12 Sep 2026, Miyazaki, Japan, abstract deadline: 7 June
- Quark-Gluon Dynamics in the Nuclear Medium, 9-13 Nov 2026, Trento, Italy, abstract deadline: 30 Sep 2026
- Kruger26 (International Workshop on Discovery Physics at the LHC), 30 November – 4 December 2026, Kruger National Park, South Africa
- Invitations for 3 talks; Introduction to Heavy-Ion Physics, Jets and Heavy Flavour as QGP Probes, Advances in Detector Technology.
- Invitations for 3 talks; Introduction to Heavy-Ion Physics, Jets and Heavy Flavour as QGP Probes, Advances in Detector Technology.
- UPC 2026: International workshop on the physics of Ultra Peripheral Collisions, 7-12 December 2026, Playa del Carmen, Mexico, abstract deadline: 15 September
SCHOOLS
| Upcoming major conferences | ||
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21-26 Jun 2026 |
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30 July - 5 Aug 2026 |
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21 - 27 Mar 2027 |
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JUNIOR'S CORNER
Message from Junior Representatives (Sara, Davide, Meiyi)
- "Supporting early careers beyond CERN"
- 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 visits this week:
- Saturday 23 May 2026
- Ashlyns School, UK
- ESN Zurich, Switzerland
- Tuesday 26 May 2026
- St Helena School, UK
- XIII Lyceum Krakow, Poland
- Lo Piastow, Poland
- Wednesday 27 May 2026
- Lycée Notre Dame de Bellegarde, France
- GRP Cariparo, Italy
- Thursday 28 May 2026
- EICS Switzerland
- EICS Switzerland
- Friday 29 May 2026
- Lycée Gabriel Faure, France
- IIS Curie Levi, Italy
- INGSCI Ingenieurs et scientifiques du Luxembourg
- Recent Social Media Highlights:
- Silvia on Social Media on the start of the heavy-ioin run!
- A new chapter of ALICE physics at LHCP 2026
- Building bridges towards ALICE 3: Japan
- Mexico in ALICE 3
- ALICE ITS3 by Alexander Kluge
- ALICE observes partonic flow even in small colliding systems
- Do all jets lose energy in the same way?
- International Women’s Day, 8 March
- LHC Career Event: 17 Mar 2026
- ALICE 3 MID
- ALICE EMCal
- International Day of Women and Girls in Science
- Curiouser and curiouser: a riddle at the ALICE detector
DIVERSITY
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Building on the 25 by’25 momentum, the Diversity & Inclusion Programme has launched Inclusion Matters, featuring 50 Inc. — a plan to co-create 50 practical actions that improve inclusion over the next five years. Already, 20 proposals have been submitted, including ideas to improve accessibility, create quiet zones, increase women speakers at events, use more inclusive language, and visibly support the Pride community. Read more in the CERN Bulletin You can take part by submitting your own proposal or contacting the ALICE Diversity Office: alice-diversity-office@cern.ch |
- "E-learning course “Ethics at CERN” for all CERN personnel":
To ensure that everyone is aware of the guidelines of our ethical framework, the HR Department has developed an e-learning course entitled “Ethics at CERN”, which is available in English and French on the CERN Learning Hub. As of now, this course is mandatory for all members of the CERN personnel. Ethics at CERN
- "Inclusion Matters: CERN’s new participatory inclusion initiative" A new “Inclusion Matters.” initiative invites the CERN community to co-create 50 visible and tangible inclusion actions by 2030.
- 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.
JOB OPPORTUNITIES