The differential charged jet cross sections, jet fragmentation distributions, and jet shapes are measured in minimum bias proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV using the ALICE detector at the LHC. Jets are reconstructed from charged particle momenta in the mid-rapidity region using the sequential recombination $k_{\rm T}$ and anti-$k_{\rm T}$ as well as the SISCone jet finding algorithms with several resolution parameters in the range $R=0.2$ to $0.6$. Differential jet production cross sections measured with the three jet finders are in agreement in the transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) interval $20<p_{\rm T}^{\rm jet,ch}<100$ GeV/$c$. They are also consistent with prior measurements carried out at the LHC by the ATLAS collaboration. The jet charged particle multiplicity rises monotonically with increasing jet $p_{\rm T}$, in qualitative agreement with prior observations at lower energies. The transverse profiles of leading jets are investigated using radial momentum density distributions as well as distributions of the average radius containing 80% ($\langle R_{\rm 80} \rangle$) of the reconstructed jet $p_{\rm T}$. The fragmentation of leading jets with $R=0.4$ using scaled $p_{\rm T}$ spectra of the jet constituents is studied. The measurements are compared to model calculations from event generators (PYTHIA, PHOJET, HERWIG). The measured radial density distributions and $\langle R_{\rm 80} \rangle$ distributions are well described by the PYTHIA model (tune Perugia-2011). The fragmentation distributions are better described by HERWIG.

Measurements of charged jet production as a function of centrality are presented for p-Pb collisions recorded at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV with the ALICE detector. Centrality classes are determined via the energy deposit in neutron calorimeters at zero degree, close to the beam direction, to minimise dynamical biases of the selection. The corresponding number of participants or binary nucleon-nucleon collisions is determined based on the particle production in the Pb-going rapidity region. Jets have been reconstructed in the central rapidity region from charged particles with the anti-$k_{\rm T}$ algorithm for resolution parameters $R = 0.2$ and $R = 0.4$ in the transverse momentum range 20 to 120 GeV/$c$. The reconstructed jet momentum and yields have been corrected for detector effects and underlying-event background. In the five centrality bins considered, the charged jet production in p-Pb collisions is consistent with the production expected from binary scaling from pp collisions. The ratio of jet yields reconstructed with the two different resolution parameters is also independent of the centrality selection, demonstrating the absence of major modifications of the radial jet structure in the reported centrality classes.

The ALICE collaboration at the LHC reports measurement of the inclusive production cross section of electrons from semi-leptonic decays of beauty hadrons with rapidity $|y|<0.8$ and transverse momentum $1<p_{\mathrm{T}}<10$ GeV/$c$, in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = $ 2.76 TeV. Electrons not originating from semi-electronic decay of beauty hadrons are suppressed using the impact parameter of the corresponding tracks. The production cross section of beauty decay electrons is compared to the result obtained with an alternative method which uses the distribution of the azimuthal angle between heavy-flavour decay electrons and charged hadrons. Perturbative QCD calculations agree with the measured cross section within the experimental and theoretical uncertainties. The integrated visible cross section, $\sigma_{\mathrm{b} \rightarrow \mathrm{e}} = 3.47\pm0.40(\mathrm{stat})^{+1.12}_{-1.33}(\mathrm{sys})\pm0.07(\mathrm{norm}) \mu$b, was extrapolated to full phase space using Fixed Order plus Next-to-Leading Log (FONLL) predictions to obtain the total b$\bar{\mathrm{b}}$ production cross section, $\sigma_{\mathrm{b\bar{b}}} = 130\pm15.1(\mathrm{stat})^{+42.1}_{-49.8}(\mathrm{sys})^{+3.4}_{-3.1}(\mathrm{extr})\pm2.5(\mathrm{norm})\pm4.4(\mathrm{BR}) \mu$b.

Measurements of the sphericity of primary charged particles in minimum bias proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=0.9$, 2.76 and 7 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC are presented. The observable is linearized to be collinear safe and is measured in the plane perpendicular to the beam direction using primary charged tracks with $p_{\rm T}\geq0.5$ GeV/c in $|\eta|\leq0.8$. The mean sphericity as a function of the charged particle multiplicity at mid-rapidity ($N_{\rm ch}$) is reported for events with different $p_{\rm T}$ scales ("soft" and "hard") defined by the transverse momentum of the leading particle. In addition, the mean charged particle transverse momentum versus multiplicity is presented for the different event classes, and the sphericity distributions in bins of multiplicity are presented. The data are compared with calculations of standard Monte Carlo event generators. The transverse sphericity is found to grow with multiplicity at all collision energies, with a steeper rise at low $N_{\rm ch}$, whereas the event generators show the opposite tendency. The combined study of the sphericity and the mean $p_{\rm T}$ with multiplicity indicates that most of the tested event generators produce events with higher multiplicity by generating more back-to-back jets resulting in decreased sphericity (and isotropy). The PYTHIA6 generator with tune PERUGIA-2011 exhibits a noticeable improvement in describing the data, compared to the other tested generators.

This note describes the details of the analysis of charged-particle pseudorapidity densities and multiplicity distributions measured by the ALICE detector in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 0.9 and 7 TeV in specific phase space regions. The primary goal of the analysis is to provide reference measurements for Monte Carlo tuning. The pseudorapidity range |h| < 0.8 is considered and a lower $p_T$ cut is applied, at 0.15, 0.5 GeV/c and at 1 GeV/c. The choice of such phase space regions to measure the charged-particle multiplicity allows a direct comparison with the analogous results obtained by other LHC collaborations, namely ATLAS and CMS. The class of events considered are those having at least one charged particle in the kinematical ranges just described. In the note, the analysis procedure is presented, together with the corrections applied to the data, and the systematic uncertainty evaluation. The comparison of the results with different Monte Carlo generators is also shown.

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.

The transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectrum and nuclear modification factor ($R_{\rm AA}$) of reconstructed jets in 0-10% and 10-30% central Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV were measured. Jets were reconstructed from charged and neutral particles, utilizing the ALICE tracking detectors and Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EMCal), with the anti-$k_{\rm T}$ jet algorithm with a resolution parameter of R=0.2. The jet $p_{\rm T}$ spectra are reported in the pseudorapidity interval of $|{\eta}_{\rm jet}|<0.5$ for $40<p_{\rm T,jet}<120$ GeV/$c$ in 0-10% and for $30<p_{\rm T,jet}<100$ GeV/$c$ in 10-30% collisions. Reconstructed jets were required to contain a leading charged particle with $p_{\rm T}>5$ GeV/$c$ to suppress jets constructed from the combinatorial background in Pb-Pb collisions. The effect of the leading charged particle requirement has been studied in both pp and Pb-Pb collisions and has been shown to have negligible effects on the $R_{\rm AA}$ within the uncertainties of the measurement. The nuclear modification factor is obtained by dividing the jet spectrum measured in Pb-Pb by that in pp collisions scaled by the number of independent nucleon-nucleon collisions estimated using a Glauber model. $R_{\rm AA}$ is found to be $0.28\pm0.04$ in 0-10% and $0.35\pm0.04$ in 10-30% collisions, independent of $p_{\rm T,jet}$ within the uncertainties of the measurement. The observed suppression is in fair agreement with expectations from two model calculations with different approaches to jet quenching.

Charged jet production cross sections in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV measured with the ALICE detector at the LHC are presented. Using the anti-$k_{\rm T}$ algorithm, jets have been reconstructed in the central rapidity region from charged particles with resolution parameters $R = 0.2$ and $R = 0.4$. The reconstructed jets have been corrected for detector effects and the underlying event background. To calculate the nuclear modification factor, $R_{\rm pPb}$, of charged jets in p-Pb collisions, a pp reference was constructed by scaling previously measured charged jet spectra at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV. In the transverse momentum range $20 \le p_{\rm T,ch\ jet} \le 120$ GeV/$c$, $R_{\rm pPb}$ is found to be consistent with unity, indicating the absence of strong nuclear matter effects on jet production. Major modifications to the radial jet structure are probed via the ratio of jet production cross sections reconstructed with the two different resolution parameters. This ratio is found to be similar to the measurement in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV and to the expectations from PYTHIA pp simulations and NLO pQCD calculations at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV.

The production of charged pions, kaons and (anti)protons has been measured at mid-rapidity ($-0.5 y 0$) in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV using the ALICE detector at the LHC. Exploiting particle identification capabilities at high transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$), the previously published $p_{\rm T}$ spectra have been extended to include measurements up to 20 GeV/$c$ for seven event multiplicity classes. The $p_{\rm T}$ spectra for pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV, needed to interpolate a pp reference spectrum, have also been extended up to 20 GeV/$c$ to measure the nuclear modification factor ($R_{\rm pPb}$) in non-single diffractive p-Pb collisions. At intermediate transverse momentum ($2 p_{\rm T} 10$\,GeV/$c$) the proton-to-pion ratio increases with multiplicity in p-Pb collisions, a similar effect is not present in the kaon-to-pion ratio. The $p_{\rm T}$ dependent structure of such increase is qualitatively similar to those observed in pp and heavy-ion collisions. At high $p_{\rm T}$ ($>10$ GeV/$c$), the particle ratios are consistent with those reported for pp and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC energies. At intermediate $p_{\rm T}$ the (anti)proton $R_{\rm pPb}$ shows a Cronin-like enhancement, while pions and kaons show little or no nuclear modification. At high $p_{\rm T}$ the charged pion, kaon and (anti)proton $R_{\rm pPb}$ are consistent with unity within statistical and systematic uncertainties.

The production cross section of electrons from semileptonic decays of beauty hadrons was measured at mid-rapidity (|y| < 0.8) in the transverse momentum range $1 < p_{\rm T} < 8$ Gev/$c$ with the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC in pp collisions at a center of mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV using an integrated luminosity of 2.2 nb$^{-1}$. Electrons from beauty hadron decays were selected based on the displacement of the decay vertex from the collision vertex. A perturbative QCD calculation agrees with the measurement within uncertainties. The data were extrapolated to the full phase space to determine the total cross section for the production of beauty quark-antiquark pairs.