We report measurements of the production of prompt D$^0$, D$^+$, D$^{*+}$ and D$^+_{\rm s}$ mesons in Pb-Pb collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV, in the centrality classes 0-10%, 30-50% and 60-80%. The D-meson production yields are measured at mid-rapidity ($|y|<0.5$) as a function of transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$). The $p_{\rm T}$ intervals covered in central collisions are: $1<p_{\rm T}<50$ Gev/$c$ for D$^0$, $2<p_{\rm T}<50$ GeV/$c$ for D$^+$, $3<p_{\rm T}<50$ GeV/$c$ for D$^{*+}$, and $4<p_{\rm T}<16$ GeV/$c$ for D$^+_{\rm s}$ mesons. The nuclear modification factors ($R_{\rm AA}$) for non-strange D mesons (D$^0$, D$^+$, D$^{*+}$) show minimum values of about 0.2 for $p_{\rm T}$ = 6-10 GeV/$c$ in the most central collisions and are compatible within uncertainties with those measured at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV. For D$^+_{\rm s}$ mesons, the values of $R_{\rm AA}$ are larger than those of non-strange D mesons, but compatible within uncertainties. In central collisions the average $R_{\rm AA}$ of non-strange D mesons is compatible with that of charged particles for $p_{\rm T} > 8$ GeV/$c$, while it is larger at lower $p_{\rm T}$. The nuclear modification factors for strange and non-strange D mesons are also compared to theoretical models with different implementations of in-medium energy loss.

The elliptic ($v_2$), triangular ($v_3$), and quadrangular ($v_4$) flow coefficients of $\pi^{\pm}$, ${\rm K}^{\pm}$, ${\rm p+\overline{p}}$, ${\Lambda+\overline{\Lambda}}$, ${\rm K}^{\rm 0}_{\rm S}$, and the $\phi$-meson are measured in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV. Results obtained with the scalar product method are reported for the rapidity range $\vert y \vert <$ 0.5 as a function of transverse momentum, $p_\text{T}$, at different collision centrality intervals between 0-70%, including ultra-central (0-1%) collisions for $\pi^{\pm}$, ${\rm K}^{\pm}$, and ${\rm p+\overline{p}}$. For $p_\text{T} < 3$ GeV$\kern-0.05em/\kern-0.02em c$, the flow coefficients exhibit a particle mass dependence. At intermediate transverse momenta ($3<p_\text{T}<$~8-10 GeV$\kern-0.05em/\kern-0.02em c$), particles show an approximate grouping according to their type (i.e., mesons and baryons). The $\phi$-meson $v_2$, which tests both particle mass dependence and type scaling, follows ${\rm p+\overline{p}}$ $v_2$ at low $p_\text{T}$ and $\pi^{\pm}$ $v_2$ at intermediate $p_\text{T}$. The evolution of the shape of $v_{\rm n}(p_{\mathrm{T}})$ as a function of centrality and harmonic number $n$ is studied for the various particle species. Flow coefficients of $\pi^{\pm}$, ${\rm K}^{\pm}$, and ${\rm p+\overline{p}}$ for $p_\text{T}<3$ GeV$\kern-0.05em/\kern-0.02em c$ are compared to iEBE-VISHNU and MUSIC hydrodynamical calculations coupled to a hadronic cascade model (UrQMD). The iEBE-VISHNU calculations describe the results fairly well for $p_\text{T} < 2.5$ GeV$\kern-0.05em/\kern-0.02em c$, while MUSIC calculations reproduce the measurements for $p_\text{T} < 1$ GeV$\kern-0.05em/\kern-0.02em c$. A comparison to $v_{\rm n}$ coefficients measured in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV is also provided.

Measurements of anisotropic flow coefficients with two- and multi-particle cumulants for inclusive charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{{\textit s}_\text{NN}} = 5.02$ and 2.76 TeV are reported in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta| < 0.8$ and transverse momentum $0.2 < p_\text{T} < 50$ GeV/$c$. The full data sample collected by the ALICE detector in 2015 (2010), corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 12.7 (2.0) $\mu$b$^{-1}$ in the centrality range 0-80%, is analysed. Flow coefficients up to the sixth flow harmonic ($v_6$) are reported and a detailed comparison among results at the two energies is carried out. The $p_\text{T}$ dependence of anisotropic flow coefficients and its evolution with respect to centrality and harmonic number $n$ are investigated. An approximate power-law scaling of the form $v_n(p_\text{T}) \sim p_\text{T}^{n/3}$ is observed for all flow harmonics at low $p_\text{T}$ ($0.2 < p_\text{T} < 3$ GeV/$c$). At the same time, the ratios $v_n/v_m^{n/m}$ are observed to be essentially independent of $p_\text{T}$ for most centralities up to about $p_\text{T} = 10$ GeV/$c$. Analysing the differences among higher-order cumulants of elliptic flow ($v_2$), which have different sensitivities to flow fluctuations, a measurement of the standardised skewness of the event-by-event $v_2$ distribution $P(v_2)$ is reported and constraints on its higher moments are provided. The Elliptic Power distribution is used to parametrise $P(v_2)$, extracting its parameters from fits to cumulants. The measurements are compared to different model predictions in order to discriminate among initial-state models and to constrain the temperature dependence of the shear viscosity to entropy-density ratio.

Azimuthally-differential femtoscopic measurements, being sensitive to spatio-temporal characteristics of the source as well as to the collective velocity fields at freeze out, provide very important information on the nature and dynamics of the system evolution. While the HBT radii oscillations relative to the second harmonic event plane measured recently reflect mostly the spatial geometry of the source, model studies have shown that the HBT radii oscillations relative to the third harmonic event plane are predominantly defined by the velocity fields. In this Letter, we present the first results on azimuthally-differential pion femtoscopy relative to the third harmonic event plane as a function of the pion pair transverse momentum $k_{\rm T}$ for different collision centralities in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV. We find that the $R_{\rm side}$ and $R_{\rm out}$ radii, which characterize the pion source size in the directions perpendicular and parallel to the pion transverse momentum, oscillate in phase relative to the third harmonic event plane, similar to the results from 3+1D hydrodynamical calculations. The observed radii oscillations unambiguously signal a collective expansion and anisotropy in the velocity fields. A comparison of the measured radii oscillations with the Blast-Wave model calculations indicate that the initial state triangularity is washed-out at freeze out.

We present the first measurements of femtoscopic correlations between the K$^0_{\rm S}$ and K$^{\rm \pm}$ particles in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV measured by the ALICE experiment. The observed femtoscopic correlations are consistent with final-state interactions proceeding solely 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$^{\rm +}$. Results of the present study are compared with those from identical-kaon femtoscopic studies also performed with pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV by ALICE and with a K$^0_{\rm S}$K$^{\rm \pm}$ measurement in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV. Combined with the Pb-Pb results, our pp analysis is found to be compatible with the interpretation of the $a_0(980)$ having a tetraquark structure instead of that of a diquark.

We present the results of three-dimensional femtoscopic analyses for charged and neutral kaons recorded by ALICE in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV. Femtoscopy is used to measure the space-time characteristics of particle production from the effects of quantum statistics and final-state interactions in two-particle correlations. Kaon femtoscopy is an important supplement to that of pions because it allows one to distinguish between different model scenarios working equally well for pions. In particular, we compare the measured 3D kaon radii with a purely hydrodynamical calculation and a model where the hydrodynamic phase is followed by a hadronic rescattering stage. The former predicts an approximate transverse mass ($m_{\mathrm{T}}$) scaling of source radii obtained from pion and kaon correlations. This $m_{\mathrm{T}}$ scaling appears to be broken in our data, which indicates the importance of the hadronic rescattering phase at LHC energies. A $k_{\mathrm{T}}$ scaling of pion and kaon source radii is observed instead. The time of maximal emission of the system is estimated using the three-dimensional femtoscopic analysis for kaons. The measured emission time is larger than that of pions. Our observation is well supported by the hydrokinetic model predictions.

In ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions, the event-by-event variation of the elliptic flow $v_2$ reflects fluctuations in the shape of the initial state of the system. This allows to select events with the same centrality but different initial geometry. This selection technique, Event Shape Engineering, has been used in the analysis of charge-dependent two- and three-particle correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}} =2.76$ TeV. The two-particle correlator $\langle \cos(\varphi_\alpha - \varphi_\beta) \rangle$, calculated for different combinations of charges $\alpha$ and $\beta$, is almost independent of $v_2$ (for a given centrality), while the three-particle correlator $\langle \cos(\varphi_\alpha + \varphi_\beta - 2\Psi_2) \rangle$ scales almost linearly both with the event $v_2$ and charged-particle pseudorapidity density. The charge dependence of the three-particle correlator is often interpreted as evidence for the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME), a parity violating effect of the strong interaction. However, its measured dependence on $v_2$ points to a large non-CME contribution to the correlator. Comparing the results with Monte Carlo calculations including a magnetic field due to the spectators, the upper limit of the CME signal contribution to the three-particle correlator in the 10-50% centrality interval is found to be 26-33% at 95% confidence level.

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 $|\eta|<0.8$ as a function of centrality and transverse momentum $p_{\rm T}$ using two observables, to search for evidence of $p_{\rm T}$-dependent flow vector fluctuations. For Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV, the measurements indicate that $p_{\rm T}$-dependent fluctuations are only present for the second order flow vector. Similar results have been found for p-Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV. These measurements are compared to hydrodynamic model calculations with event-by-event geometry fluctuations in the initial state to constrain the initial conditions and transport properties of the matter created in Pb-Pb and p-Pb collisions.

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.

Comprehensive results on the production of unidentified charged particles, $\pi^{\pm}$, $\rm{K}^{\pm}$, $\rm{K}^{0}_{S}$, $\rm{K}$*(892)$^{0}$, $\rm{p}$, $\overline{\rm{p}}$, $\phi$(1020), $\Lambda$, $\overline{\Lambda}$, $\Xi^{-}$, $\overline{\Xi}^{+}$, $\Omega^{-}$ and $\overline{\Omega}^{+}$ hadrons in proton-proton (pp) collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV at midrapidity ($|y| < 0.5$) as a function of charged-particle multiplicity density are presented. In order to avoid auto-correlation biases, the actual transverse momentum ($p_{\rm{T}}$) spectra of the particles under study and the event activity are measured in different rapidity windows. In the highest multiplicity class, the charged-particle density reaches about 3.5 times the value measured in inelastic collisions. While the yield of protons normalized to pions remains approximately constant as a function of multiplicity, the corresponding ratios of strange hadrons to pions show a significant enhancement that increases with increasing strangeness content. Furthermore, all identified particle to pion ratios are shown to depend solely on charged-particle multiplicity density, regardless of system type and collision energy. The evolution of the spectral shapes with multiplicity and hadron mass shows patterns that are similar to those observed in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at LHC energies. The obtained $p_{\rm{T}}$ distributions and yields are compared to expectations from QCD-based pp event generators as well as to predictions from thermal and hydrodynamic models. These comparisons indicate that traces of a collective, equilibrated system are already present in high-multiplicity pp collisions.