We report on the measurement of the inclusive J/$\psi$ polarization parameters in pp collisions at a center of mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.23 pb$^{-1}$. J/$\psi$ resonances are reconstructed in their di-muon decay channel in the rapidity interval $2.5 < y < 4.0$ and over the transverse-momentum interval $2 < p_{\rm T} < 15$ GeV/$c$. The three polarization parameters ($\lambda_\theta$, $\lambda_\varphi$, $\lambda_{\theta\varphi}$) are measured as a function of $p_{\rm T}$ both in the helicity and Collins-Soper reference frames. The measured J/$\psi$ polarization parameters are found to be compatible with zero within uncertainties, contrary to expectations from all available predictions. The results are compared with the measurement in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV.

We present the charged-particle multiplicity distributions over a wide pseudorapidity range ($-3.4<\eta<5.0$) for pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 0.9, 7, and 8 TeV at the LHC. Results are based on information from the Silicon Pixel Detector and the Forward Multiplicity Detector of ALICE, extending the pseudorapidity coverage of the earlier publications and the high-multiplicity reach. The measurements are compared to results from the CMS experiment and to PYTHIA, PHOJET and EPOS LHC event generators, as well as IP-Glasma calculations.

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.

The production of the $\Lambda$(1520) baryonic resonance has been measured at midrapidity in inelastic pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV and in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV for non-single diffractive events and in multiplicity classes. The resonance is reconstructed through its hadronic decay channel $\Lambda$(1520) $\rightarrow$ pK$^{-}$ and the charge conjugate with the ALICE detector. The integrated yields and mean transverse momenta are calculated from the measured transverse momentum distributions in pp and p-Pb collisions. The mean transverse momenta follow mass ordering as previously observed for other hyperons in the same collision systems. A Blast-Wave function constrained by other light hadrons ($\pi$, K, K$_{\rm{S}}^0$, p, $\Lambda$) describes the shape of the $\Lambda$(1520) transverse momentum distribution up to 3.5 GeV/$c$ in p-Pb collisions. In the framework of this model, this observation suggests that the $\Lambda(1520)$ resonance participates in the same collective radial flow as other light hadrons. The ratio of the yield of $\Lambda(1520)$ to the yield of the ground state particle $\Lambda$ remains constant as a function of charged-particle multiplicity, suggesting that there is no net effect of the hadronic phase in p-Pb collisions on the $\Lambda$(1520) yield.

The first measurement of event-by-event antideuteron number fluctuations in high energy heavy-ion collisions is presented. The measurements are carried out at midrapidity ($|\eta| < 0.8$) as a function of collision centrality in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV using the ALICE detector. A significant negative correlation between the produced antiprotons and antideuterons is observed in all collision centralities. The results are compared with coalescence calculations, which fail to describe the measurement, in particular if a correlated production of protons and neutrons is assumed. Thermal-statistical model calculations describe the data within uncertainties only for correlation volumes that are different with respect to those describing proton yields and a similar measurement of net-proton number fluctuations.

The first measurement of the ${\rm e}^{+}{\rm e}^{-}$ pair production at low lepton pair transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T,ee}$) and low invariant mass ($m_{\rm ee}$) in non-central Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV at the LHC is presented. The dielectron production is studied with the ALICE detector at midrapidity ($|\eta_{\rm e}| < 0.8$) as a function of invariant mass ($0.4 \leq m_{\rm ee} < 2.7$ GeV/$c^2$) in the 50$-$70% and 70$-$90% centrality classes for $p_{\rm T,ee} < 0.1$ GeV/$c$, and as a function of $p_{\rm T,ee}$ in three $m_{\rm ee}$ intervals in the most peripheral Pb$-$Pb collisions. Below a $p_{\rm T,ee}$ of 0.1 GeV/$c$, a clear excess of ${\rm e}^{+}{\rm e}^{-}$ pairs is found compared to the expectations from known hadronic sources and predictions of thermal radiation from the medium. The $m_{\rm ee}$ excess spectra are reproduced, within uncertainties, by different predictions of the photon$-$photon production of dielectrons, where the photons originate from the extremely strong electromagnetic fields generated by the highly Lorentz-contracted Pb nuclei. Lowest-order quantum electrodynamic (QED) calculations, as well as a model that takes into account the impact-parameter dependence of the average transverse momentum of the photons, also provide a good description of the $p_{\rm T,ee}$ spectra. The measured $\sqrt{\langle p_{\rm T,ee}^{2} \rangle}$ of the excess $p_{\rm T,ee}$ spectrum in peripheral Pb$-$Pb collisions is found to be comparable to the values observed previously at RHIC in a similar phase-space region.

$\phi$ meson measurements provide insight into strangeness production, which is one of the key observables for the hot medium formed in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. ALICE measured $\phi$ production through its decay in muon pairs in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV in the intermediate transverse momentum range $2 < p_{\rm T} < 5$ GeV/$c$ and in the rapidity interval $2.5<y<4$. The $\phi$ yield was measured as a function of the transverse momentum and collision centrality. The nuclear modification factor was obtained as a function of the average number of participating nucleons. Results were compared with the ones obtained via the kaon decay channel in the same $p_{\rm T}$ range at midrapidity. The values of the nuclear modification factor in the two rapidity regions are in agreement within uncertainties.

The production of the charm-strange baryon $\Xi_{\rm c}^0$ is measured for the first time at the LHC via its semileptonic decay into e$^+\Xi^-\nu_{\rm e}$ in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV with the ALICE detector. The transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) differential cross section multiplied by the branching ratio is presented in the interval 1 $<$ $p_{\rm T}$ $<$ 8 GeV/$c$ at mid-rapidity, $|y|$ $<$ 0.5. The transverse momentum dependence of the $\Xi_{\rm c}^0$ baryon production relative to the D$^0$ meson production is compared to predictions of event generators with various tunes of the hadronisation mechanism, which are found to underestimate the measured cross-section ratio.