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).

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.

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 ($p_{\mathrm T}$) distribution of primary charged particles is measured in minimum bias (non-single-diffractive) p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The $p_{\mathrm T}$ spectra measured near central rapidity in the range $0.5<p_{\mathrm T}<20$ GeV/$c$ exhibit a weak pseudorapidity dependence. The nuclear modification factor $R_{\mathrm{pPb}}$ is consistent with unity for $p_{\mathrm T}$ above 2 GeV/$c$. This measurement indicates that the strong suppression of hadron production at high $p_{\mathrm T}$ observed in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC is not due to an initial-state effect. The measurement is compared to theoretical calculations.

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.

We present measurements of Underlying Event observables in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 0.9 and 7 TeV. The analysis is performed as a function of the highest charged-particle transverse momentum $p_{\rm T, LT}$ in the event. Different regions are defined with respect to the azimuthal direction of the leading (highest transverse momentum) track: Toward, Transverse and Away. The Toward and Away regions collect the fragmentation products of the hardest partonic interaction. The Transverse region is expected to be most sensitive to the Underlying Event activity. The study is performed with charged particles above three different $p_{\rm T}$ thresholds: 0.15, 0.5 and 1.0 GeV/$c$. In the Transverse region we observe an increase in the multiplicity of a factor 2-3 between the lower and higher collision energies, depending on the track $p){\rm T}$ threshold considered. Data are compared to Pythia 6.4, Pythia 8.1 and Phojet. On average, all models considered underestimate the multiplicity and summed $p_{\rm T}$ in the Transverse region by about 10-30%.

We present a study of the inclusive charged-particle transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra as a function of charged-particle multiplicity density at mid-pseudorapidity, ${\rm d}N_{\rm ch}/{\rm d}\eta$, in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 5.02 and 13 TeV covering the kinematic range $|\eta|<0.8$ and $0.15<p_{\rm{T}}<20$ GeV/$c$. The results are presented for events with at least one charged particle in $|\eta|<1$ (INEL$ >0$). The $p_{\rm T}$ spectra are reported for two multiplicity estimators covering different pseudorapidity regions. The $p_{\rm T}$ spectra normalized to that for INEL $>0$ show little energy dependence. Moreover, the high-$p_{\rm T}$ yields of charged particles increase faster than the charged-particle multiplicity density. The average $\it{p}_{\rm T}$ as a function of multiplicity and transverse spherocity is reported for pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV. For low- (high-) spherocity events, corresponding to jet-like (isotropic) events, the average $p_{\rm T}$ is higher (smaller) than that measured in INEL $>0$ pp collisions. Within uncertainties, the functional form of $\langle p_{\rm T} \rangle(N_{\rm ch})$ is not affected by the spherocity selection. While EPOS LHC gives a good description of many features of data, PYTHIA overestimates the average $p_{\rm T}$ in jet-like events.

Transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra of charged particles at mid-pseudorapidity in Xe-Xe collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.44 TeV measured with the ALICE apparatus at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The kinematic range $0.15 < p_{\rm T} < 50$ GeV/$c$ and $|\eta| < 0.8$ is covered. Results are presented in nine classes of collision centrality in the 0-80% range. For comparison, a pp reference at the collision energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 5.44 TeV is obtained by interpolating between existing \pp measurements at $\sqrt{s}$ = 5.02 and 7 TeV. The nuclear modification factors in central Xe-Xe collisions and Pb-Pb collisions at a similar center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV, and in addition at 2.76 TeV, at analogous ranges of charged particle multiplicity density $\left\langle\rm{d}N_{\rm ch}/\rm{d}\eta\right\rangle$ show a remarkable similarity at $p_{\rm T}> 10$ GeV/$c$. The comparison of the measured $R_{\rm AA}$ values in the two colliding systems could provide insight on the path length dependence of medium-induced parton energy loss. The centrality dependence of the ratio of the average transverse momentum $\left\langle p_{\rm{T}}\right\rangle$ in Xe-Xe collisions over Pb-Pb collision at $\sqrt{s}$ = 5.02 TeV is compared to hydrodynamical model calculations.

Mid-rapidity production of $\pi^{\pm}$, $\rm{K}^{\pm}$ and ($\bar{\rm{p}}$)p measured by the ALICE experiment at the LHC, in Pb-Pb and inelastic pp collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV, is presented. The invariant yields are measured over a wide transverse momentum ($p_{\rm{T}}$) range from hundreds of MeV/$c$ up to 20 GeV/$c$. The results in Pb-Pb collisions are presented as a function of the collision centrality, in the range 0$-$90%. The comparison of the $p_{\rm{T}}$-integrated particle ratios, i.e. proton-to-pion (p/$\pi$) and kaon-to-pion (K/$\pi$) ratios, with similar measurements in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV show no significant energy dependence. Blast-wave fits of the $p_{\rm{T}}$ spectra indicate that in the most central collisions radial flow is slightly larger at 5.02 TeV with respect to 2.76 TeV. Particle ratios (p/$\pi$, K/$\pi$) as a function of $p_{\rm{T}}$ show pronounced maxima at $p_{\rm{T}}$ $\approx$ 3 GeV/$c$ in central Pb-Pb collisions. At high $p_{\rm{T}}$, particle ratios at 5.02 TeV are similar to those measured in pp collisions at the same energy and in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV. Using the pp reference spectra measured at the same collision energy of 5.02 TeV, the nuclear modification factors for the different particle species are derived. Within uncertainties, the nuclear modification factor is particle species independent for high $p_{\rm{T}}$ and compatible with measurements at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV. The results are compared to state-of-the-art model calculations, which are found to describe the observed trends satisfactorily.

The transverse structure of jets was studied via jet fragmentation transverse momentum ($j_{\rm{T}}$) distributions, obtained using two-particle correlations in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions, measured with the ALICE experiment at the LHC. The highest transverse momentum particle in each event is used as the trigger particle and the region $3 < p_{\rm{Tt}} < 15$ GeV/$c$ is explored in this study. The measured distributions show a clear narrow Gaussian component and a wide non-Gaussian one. Based on Pythia simulations, the narrow component can be related to non-perturbative hadronization and the wide component to quantum chromodynamical splitting. The width of the narrow component shows a weak dependence on the transverse momentum of the trigger particle, in agreement with the expectation of universality of the hadronization process. On the other hand, the width of the wide component shows a rising trend suggesting increased branching for higher transverse momentum. The results obtained in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 TeV and in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV are compatible within uncertainties and hence no significant cold nuclear matter effects are observed. The results are compared to previous measurements from CCOR and PHENIX as well as to Pythia 8 and Herwig 7 simulations.