The ALICE measurement of K$^0_{\rm S}$ and $\rm\Lambda$ production at mid-rapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV is presented. The transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra are shown for several collision centrality intervals and in the $p_{\rm T}$ range from 0.4 GeV/$c$ (0.6 GeV/$c$ for $\rm\Lambda$) to 12 GeV/$c$. The $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the $\rm \Lambda$/K$^0_{\rm S}$ ratios exhibits maxima in the vicinity of 3 GeV/$c$, and the positions of the maxima shift towards higher $p_{\rm T}$ with increasing collision centrality. The magnitude of these maxima increases by almost a factor of three between most peripheral and most central Pb-Pb collisions. This baryon excess at intermediate $p_{\rm T}$ is not observed in pp interactions at sqrt(s) = 0.9 TeV and at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. Qualitatively, the baryon enhancement in heavy-ion collisions is expected from radial flow. However, the measured $p_{\rm T}$ spectra above 2 GeV/$c$ progressively decouple from hydrodynamical-model calculations. For higher values of $p_{\rm T}$, models that incorporate the influence of the medium on the fragmentation and hadronization processes describe qualitatively the $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the $\rm\Lambda$/K$^0_{\rm S}$ ratio.

Differential cross sections of charged particles in inelastic pp collisions as a function of $p_{\rm T}$ have been measured at $\sqrt{s}=$ 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV at the LHC. The $p_{\rm T}$ spectra are compared to NLO-pQCD calculations. Though the differential cross section for an individual $\sqrt{s}$ cannot be described by NLO-pQCD, the relative increase of cross section with $\sqrt{s}$ is in agreement with NLO-pQCD. Based on these measurements and observations, procedures are discussed to construct pp reference spectra at $\sqrt{s} =$ 2.76 and 5.02 TeV up to $p_{\rm T}$ = 50 GeV/$c$ as required for the calculation of the nuclear modification factor in nucleus-nucleus and proton-nucleus collisions.

The production of ${\rm\Xi}^-$ and ${\rm\Omega}^-$ baryons and their anti-particles in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV has been measured using the ALICE detector. The transverse momentum spectra at mid-rapidity ($|y| < 0.5$) for charged $\rm\Xi$ and $\rm\Omega$ hyperons have been studied in the range $0.6 < p_{\rm T} < 8.0$ GeV/$c$ and $1.2 < p_{\rm T} < 7.0$ GeV/$c$, respectively, and in several centrality intervals (from the most central 0-10% to the most peripheral 60-80% collisions). These spectra have been compared with the predictions of recent hydrodynamic models. In particular, the Krak${\'o}$w and EPOS models give a satisfactory description of the data, with the latter covering a wider $p_{\rm T}$ range. Mid-rapidity yields, integrated over $p_{\rm T}$, have been determined. The hyperon-to-pion ratios are similar to those at RHIC: they rise smoothly with centrality up to $\langle N_{\rm part}\rangle$~150 and saturate thereafter. The enhancements (yields per participant nucleon relative to pp collisions) increase both with the strangeness content of the baryon and with centrality, but are less pronounced than at lower energies.

The average transverse momentum $\langle p_{\rm T}\rangle$ versus the charged-particle multiplicity $N_{\rm ch}$ was measured in p-Pb collisions at a collision energy per nucleon-nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV and in pp collisions at collision energies of $\sqrt{s}=0.9$, 2.76, and 7 TeV in the kinematic range $0.15<p_{\rm T}<10.0$ GeV/$c$ and $|\eta|<0.3$ with the ALICE apparatus at the LHC. These data are compared to results in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV at similar charged-particle multiplicities. In pp and p-Pb collisions, a strong increase of $\langle p_{\rm T}\rangle$ with $N_{\rm ch}$ is observed, which is much stronger than that measured in Pb-Pb collisions. For pp collisions, this could be attributed, within a model of hadronizing strings, to multiple-parton interactions and to a final-state color reconnection mechanism. The data in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions cannot be described by an incoherent superposition of nucleon-nucleon collisions and pose a challenge to most of the event generators.

We report the first measurement of the net-charge fluctuations in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV, measured with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The dynamical fluctuations per unit entropy are observed to decrease when going from peripheral to central collisions. An additional reduction in the amount of fluctuations is seen in comparison to the results from lower energies. We examine the dependence of fluctuations on the pseudorapidity interval, which may account for the dilution of fluctuations during the evolution of the system. We find that the fluctuations at LHC are smaller compared to the measurements at the Relativistic heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), and as such, closer to what has been theoretically predicted for the formation of Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP).

We present the measurements of particle pair yields per trigger particle obtained from di-hadron azimuthal correlations in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 0.9$, $2.76$, and $7$ TeV recorded with the ALICE detector. The yields are studied as a function of the charged particle multiplicity. Taken together with the single particle yields the pair yields provide information about parton fragmentation at low transverse momenta, as well as on the contribution of multiple parton interactions to particle production. Data are compared to calculations using the PYTHIA6, PYTHIA8, and PHOJET event generators.

This publication describes the methods used to measure the centrality of inelastic Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV per colliding nucleon pair with ALICE. The centrality is a key parameter in the study of the properties of QCD matter at extreme temperature and energy density, because it is directly related to the initial overlap region of the colliding nuclei. Geometrical properties of the collision, such as the number of participating nucleons and number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions, are deduced from a Glauber model with a sharp impact parameter selection, and shown to be consistent with those extracted from the data. The centrality determination provides a tool to compare ALICE measurements with those of other experiments and with theoretical calculations.

We report on the first measurement of inclusive J/$\psi$ elliptic flow, $v_2$, in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. The measurement is performed with the ALICE detector in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV in the rapidity range $2.5 < y < 4.0$. The dependence of the J/$\psi$ $v_2$ on the collision centrality and on the J/$\psi$ transverse momentum is studied in the range $0 < p_{\rm T} < 10$ GeV/$c$. For semi-central Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV, an indication of non-zero $v_2$ is observed with a maximum value of $v_2 = 0.116 \pm 0.046 {\rm (stat.)} \pm 0.029 {\rm (syst.)}$ for J/$\psi$ in the transverse momentum range $2 < p_{\rm T} < 4$ GeV/$c$. The elliptic flow measurement complements the previously reported ALICE results on the inclusive J/$\psi$ nuclear modification factor and favors the scenario of a significant fraction of J/$\psi$ production from charm quarks in a deconfined partonic phase.

In high-energy heavy-ion collisions, the correlations between the emitted particles can be used as a probe to gain insight into the charge creation mechanisms. In this Letter, we report the first results of such studies using the electric charge balance function in the relative pseudorapidity ($\Delta\eta$) and azimuthal angle ($\Delta\varphi$) in Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The width of the balance function decreases with growing centrality (i.e. for more central collisions) in both projections. This centrality dependence is not reproduced by HIJING, while AMPT, a model which incorporates strings and parton rescattering, exhibits qualitative agreement with the measured correlations in $\Delta\varphi$ but fails to describe the correlations in $\Delta\eta$. A thermal blast-wave model incorporating local charge conservation and tuned to describe the $p_{\rm T}$ spectra and v$_2$ measurements reported by ALICE, is used to fit the centrality dependence of the width of the balance function and to extract the average separation of balancing charges at freeze-out. The comparison of our results with measurements at lower energies reveals an ordering with $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$: the balance functions become narrower with increasing energy for all centralities. This is consistent with the effect of larger radial flow at the LHC energies but also with the late stage creation scenario of balancing charges. However, the relative decrease of the balance function widths in $\Delta\eta$ and $\Delta\varphi$ with centrality from the highest SPS to the LHC energy exhibits only small differences. This observation cannot be interpreted solely within the framework where the majority of the charge is produced at a later stage in the evolution of the heavy--ion collision.

The $p_{\rm T}$-differential production cross sections of the prompt (B feed-down subtracted) charmed mesons D$^0$, D$^+$, and D$^{*+}$ in the rapidity range $|y|<0.5$, and for transverse momentum $1< p_{\rm T} <12$ GeV/$c$, were measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis exploited the hadronic decays D$^0 \rightarrow $K$\pi$, D$^+ \rightarrow $K$\pi\pi$, D$^{*+} \rightarrow $D$^0\pi$, and their charge conjugates, and was performed on a $L_{\rm int} = 1.1$ nb$^{-1}$ event sample collected in 2011 with a minimum-bias trigger. The total charm production cross section at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV and at 7 TeV was evaluated by extrapolating to the full phase space the $p_{\rm T}$-differential production cross sections at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV and our previous measurements at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV. The results were compared to existing measurements and to perturbative-QCD calculations. The fraction of cdbar D mesons produced in a vector state was also determined.