At sufficiently high temperature and energy density, nuclear matter undergoes a transition to a phase in which quarks and gluons are not confined: the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) [1]. Such an extreme state of strongly-interacting QCD (Quantum Chromo-Dynamics) matter is produced in the laboratory with high-energy collisions of heavy nuclei, where an enhanced production of strange hadrons is observed [2-6]. Strangeness enhancement, originally proposed as a signature of QGP formation in nuclear collisions [7], is more pronounced for multi-strange baryons. Several effects typical of heavy-ion phenomenology have been observed in high-multiplicity proton-proton (pp) collisions [8,9]. Yet, enhanced production of multi-strange particles has not been reported so far. Here we present the first observation of strangeness enhancement in high-multiplicity pp collisions. We find that the integrated yields of strange and multi-strange particles relative to pions increases significantly with the event charged-particle multiplicity. The measurements are in remarkable agreement with p-Pb collision results [10,11] indicating that the phenomenon is related to the final system created in the collision. In high-multiplicity events strangeness production reaches values similar to those observed in Pb-Pb collisions, where a QGP is formed.

Direct photon production at mid-rapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\mathrm{NN}}}} = 2.76$ TeV was studied in the transverse momentum range $0.9 < p_\mathrm{T} < 14$ GeV$/c$. Photons were detected with the highly segmented electromagnetic calorimeter PHOS and via conversions in the ALICE detector material with the $e^+e^-$ pair reconstructed in the central tracking system. The results of the two methods were combined and direct photon spectra were measured for the 0-20%, 20-40%, and 40-80% centrality classes. For all three classes, agreement was found with perturbative QCD calculations for $p_\mathrm{T} \gtrsim 5$ GeV$/c$. Direct photon spectra down to $p_\mathrm{T} \approx 1$ GeV$/c$ could be extracted for the 20-40% and 0-20% centrality classes. The significance of the direct photon signal for $0.9 < p_\mathrm{T} < 2.1$ GeV$/c$ is $2.6\sigma$ for the 0-20% class. The spectrum in this $p_\mathrm{T}$ range and centrality class can be described by an exponential with an inverse slope parameter of $(297 \pm 12^\mathrm{stat}\pm 41^\mathrm{syst})$ MeV. State-of-the-art models for photon production in heavy-ion collisions agree with the data within uncertainties.

The production of beauty hadrons was measured via semi-leptonic decays at mid-rapidity with the ALICE detector at the LHC in the transverse momentum interval $1<p_{\rm T}<8$ GeV/$c$ in minimum-bias p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV and in $1.3<p_{\rm T}<8$ GeV/$c$ in the 20% most central Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV. The pp reference spectra at $\sqrt{s}=5.02$ TeV and $\sqrt{s}=2.76$ TeV, needed for the calculation of the nuclear modification factors $R_{\rm pPb}$ and $R_{\rm PbPb}$, were obtained by a pQCD-driven scaling of the cross section of electrons from beauty-hadron decays measured at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. In the $p_{\rm T}$ interval $3<p_{\rm T}<8$ GeV/$c$ a suppression of the yield of electrons from beauty-hadron decays is observed in Pb-Pb compared to pp collisions. Towards lower $p_{\rm T}$, the $R_{\rm PbPb}$ values increase with large systematic uncertainties. The $R_{\rm pPb}$ is consistent with unity within systematic uncertainties and is well described by theoretical calculations that include cold nuclear matter effects in p-Pb collisions. The measured $R_{\rm pPb}$ and these calculations indicate that cold nuclear matter effects are small at high transverse momentum also in Pb-Pb collisions. Therefore, the observed reduction of $R_{\rm PbPb}$ below unity at high $p_{\rm T}$ may be ascribed to an effect of the hot and dense medium formed in Pb-Pb collisions.

Invariant differential yields of deuterons and anti-deuterons in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV and the yields of tritons, $^{3}$He nuclei and their anti-nuclei at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV have been measured with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The measurements cover a wide transverse momentum ($p_{\text{T}}$) range in the rapidity interval $|y|<0.5$, extending both the energy and the $p_{\text{T}}$ reach of previous measurements up to 3 GeV/$c$ for $A=2$ and 6 GeV/$c$ for $A=3$. The coalescence parameters of (anti-)deuterons and $^{3}\overline{\text{He}}$ nuclei exhibit an increasing trend with $p_{\text{T}}$ and are found to be compatible with measurements in pA collisions at low $p_{\text{T}}$ and lower energies. The integrated yields decrease by a factor of about 1000 for each increase of the mass number with one (anti-)nucleon. Furthermore, the deuteron-to-proton ratio is reported as a function of the average charged particle multiplicity at different center-of-mass energies.

Two-particle angular correlations between trigger particles in the forward pseudorapidity range ($2.5 < |\eta| < 4.0$) and associated particles in the central range ($|\eta| < 1.0$) are measured with the ALICE detector in p-Pb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The trigger particles are reconstructed using the muon spectrometer, and the associated particles by the central barrel tracking detectors. In high-multiplicity events, the double-ridge structure, previously discovered in two-particle angular correlations at midrapidity, is found to persist to the pseudorapidity ranges studied in this Letter. The second-order Fourier coefficients for muons in high-multiplicity events are extracted after jet-like correlations from low-multiplicity events have been subtracted. The coefficients are found to have a similar transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) dependence in p-going (p-Pb) and Pb-going (Pb-p) configurations, with the Pb-going coefficients larger by about $16\pm6$%, rather independent of $p_{\rm T}$ within the uncertainties of the measurement. The data are compared with calculations using the AMPT model, which predicts a different $p_{\rm T}$ and $\eta$ dependence than observed in the data. The results are sensitive to the parent particle $v_2$ and composition of reconstructed muon tracks, where the contribution from heavy flavour decays are expected to dominate at $p_{\rm T}>2$ GeV/$c$.

The production of (anti-)deuteron and (anti-)$^{3}$He nuclei in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV has been studied using the ALICE detector at the LHC. The spectra exhibit a significant hardening with increasing centrality. Combined blast-wave fits of several particles support the interpretation that this behavior is caused by an increase of radial flow. The integrated particle yields are discussed in the context of coalescence and thermal-statistical model expectations. The particle ratios, $^3$He/d and $^3$He/p, in Pb-Pb collisions are found to be in agreement with a common chemical freeze-out temperature of $T_{\rm chem} \approx 156$ MeV. These ratios do not vary with centrality which is in agreement with the thermal-statistical model. In a coalescence approach, it excludes models in which nucleus production is proportional to the particle multiplicity and favors those in which it is proportional to the particle density instead. In addition, the observation of 31 anti-tritons in Pb-Pb collisions is reported. For comparison, the deuteron spectrum in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV is also presented. While the p/$\pi$ ratio is similar in pp and Pb-Pb collisions, the d/p ratio in pp collisions is found to be lower by a factor of 2.2 than in Pb-Pb collisions.

We present measurements of two-particle correlations with neutral pion trigger particles of transverse momenta $8 < p_{\mathrm{T}}^{\rm trig} < 16~\mathrm{GeV}/c$ and associated charged particles of $0.5 < p_{\mathrm{T}}^{\rm assoc} < 10~\mathrm{GeV}/c$ versus the azimuthal angle difference $\Delta\varphi$ at midrapidity in pp and central Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV with ALICE. The new measurements exploit associated charged hadrons down to $0.5~\mathrm{GeV}/c$, which significantly extends our previous measurement that only used charged hadrons above $3~\mathrm{GeV}/c$. After subtracting the contributions of the flow background, $v_2$ to $v_5$, the per-trigger yields are extracted for $|\Delta\varphi|<0.7$ on the near and for $|\Delta\varphi-\pi| < 1.1$ on the away side. The ratio of per-trigger yields in Pb--Pb to those in pp collisions, $I_{\mathrm{AA}}$, is measured on the near and away side for the $0$--$10$\% most central Pb--Pb collisions. On the away side, the per-trigger yields in Pb--Pb are strongly suppressed to the level of $I_{\mathrm{AA}} \approx 0.6$ for $p_{\mathrm{T}}^{\rm assoc} > 3~\mathrm{GeV}/c$, while with decreasing momenta an enhancement develops reaching about $5$ at low $p_{\mathrm{T}}^{\rm assoc}$. On the near side, an enhancement of $I_{\mathrm{AA}}$ between $1.2$ at the highest to $1.8$ at the lowest $p_{\mathrm{T}}^{\rm assoc}$ is observed. The data are compared to parton-energy-loss predictions of the JEWEL and AMPT event generators, as well as to a perturbative QCD calculation with medium-modified fragmentation functions. All calculations qualitatively describe the away-side suppression at high $p_{\mathrm{T}}^{\rm assoc}$. Only AMPT captures the enhancement at low $p_{\mathrm{T}}^{\rm assoc}$, both on the near and away side. However, it also underpredicts $I_{\mathrm{AA}}$ above $5$ GeV/$c$, in particular on the near-side.

The production of K$^{*}$(892)$^{0}$ and $\phi$(1020) mesons has been measured in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV. K$^{*0}$ and $\phi$ are reconstructed via their decay into charged hadrons with the ALICE detector in the rapidity range $-0.5 < y <0$. The transverse momentum spectra, measured as a function of the multiplicity, have p$_{\mathrm{T}}$ range from 0 to 15 GeV/$c$ for K$^{*0}$ and from 0.3 to 21 GeV/$c$ for $\phi$. Integrated yields, mean transverse momenta and particle ratios are reported and compared with results in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV and Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV. In Pb-Pb and p-Pb collisions, K$^{*0}$ and $\phi$ probe the hadronic phase of the system and contribute to the study of particle formation mechanisms by comparison with other identified hadrons. For this purpose, the mean transverse momenta and the differential proton-to-$\phi$ ratio are discussed as a function of the multiplicity of the event. The short-lived K$^{*0}$ is measured to investigate re-scattering effects, believed to be related to the size of the system and to the lifetime of the hadronic phase.

The pseudorapidity ($\eta$) and transverse-momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) distributions of charged particles produced in proton-proton collisions are measured at the centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. The pseudorapidity distribution in $|\eta|<$ 1.8 is reported for inelastic events and for events with at least one charged particle in $|\eta|<$ 1. The pseudorapidity density of charged particles produced in the pseudorapidity region $|\eta|<$ 0.5 is 5.31 $\pm$ 0.18 and 6.46 $\pm$ 0.19 for the two event classes, respectively. The transverse-momentum distribution of charged particles is measured in the range 0.15 $<$ $p_{\rm T}$ $<$ 20 GeV/c and $|\eta|<$ 0.8 for events with at least one charged particle in $|\eta|<$ 1. The correlation between transverse momentum and particle multiplicity is also investigated by studying the evolution of the spectra with event multiplicity. The results are compared with calculations from PYTHIA and EPOS Monte Carlo generators.

The production of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays was measured as a function of transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) in minimum-bias p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The measurement covers the $p_{\rm T}$ interval $0.5<p_{\rm T}<12$ GeV/$c$ and the rapidity range $-1.06 < y_{\rm cms} < 0.14$ in the centre-of-mass reference frame. The contribution of electrons from background sources was subtracted using an invariant mass approach. The nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm pPb}$ was calculated by comparing the $p_{\rm T}$-differential invariant cross section in p-Pb collisions to a pp reference at the same centre-of-mass energy, which was obtained by interpolating measurements at $\sqrt{s}= 2.76$ TeV and $\sqrt{s} =7$ TeV. The $R_{\rm pPb}$ is consistent with unity within uncertainties of about 25%, which become larger for $p_{\rm T}$ below 1 GeV/$c$. The measurement shows that heavy-flavour production is consistent with binary scaling, so that a suppression in the high-$p_{\rm T}$ yield in Pb-Pb collisions has to be attributed to effects induced by the hot medium produced in the final state. The data in p-Pb collisions are described by recent model calculations that include cold nuclear matter effects.