A measurement of dielectron production in proton-proton (pp) collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV, recorded with the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC, is presented in this Letter. The data set was recorded with a reduced magnetic solenoid field. This enables the investigation of a kinematic domain at low dielectron invariant mass $m_{\rm ee}$ and pair transverse momentum $p_{\rm T,ee}$ that was previously inaccessible at the LHC. The cross section for dielectron production is studied as a function of $m_{\rm ee}$, $p_{\rm T,ee}$, and event multiplicity ${\rm d} N_{\rm ch}/{\rm d} \eta$. The expected dielectron rate from hadron decays, called hadronic cocktail, utilizes a parametrization of the measured $\eta/\pi^0$ ratio in pp and proton-nucleus (p-A) collisions, assuming that this ratio shows no strong dependence on collision energy at low transverse momentum. Comparison of the measured dielectron yield to the hadronic cocktail at $0.15<m_{\rm ee}<0.6$ GeV/$c^2$ and for $p_{\rm T,ee} < 0.4$ GeV/$c$ indicates an enhancement of soft dielectrons, reminiscent of the 'anomalous' soft-photon and -dilepton excess in hadron-hadron collisions reported by several experiments under different experimental conditions. The enhancement factor over the hadronic cocktail amounts to $1.61\pm 0.13\,(\rm{stat.})\pm 0.17\,(\rm{syst., data}) \pm 0.34\,(\rm{syst., cocktail})$ in the ALICE acceptance. Acceptance-corrected excess spectra in $m_{\rm ee}$ and $p_{\rm T,ee}$ are extracted and compared with calculations of dielectron production from hadronic bremsstrahlung and thermal radiation within a hadronic many-body approach.

The study of nuclei and antinuclei production has proven to be a powerful tool to investigate the formation mechanism of loosely bound states in high-energy hadronic collisions. The first measurement of the production of ${\rm ^{3}_{\Lambda}\rm H}$ in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV is presented in this Letter. Its production yield measured in the rapidity interval $-1 < y < 0$ for the 40% highest multiplicity p-Pb collisions is ${\rm d} N /{\rm d} y =[\mathrm{6.3 \pm 1.8 (stat.) \pm 1.2 (syst.) ] \times 10^{-7}}$. The measurement is compared with the expectations of statistical hadronisation and coalescence models, which describe the nucleosynthesis in hadronic collisions. These two models predict very different yields of the hypertriton in charged particle multiplicity environments relevant to small collision systems such as p-Pb and therefore the measurement of ${\rm d} N /{\rm d} y$ is crucial to distinguish between them. The precision of this measurement leads to the exclusion with a significance larger than 6.9$\sigma$ of some configurations of the statistical hadronization model, thus constraining the theory behind the production of loosely bound states at hadron colliders.

Understanding the production mechanism of light (anti)nuclei is one of the key challenges of nuclear physics and has important consequences for astrophysics, since it provides an input for indirect dark-matter searches in space. In this paper, the latest results about the production of light (anti)nuclei in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV are presented, focusing on the comparison with the predictions of coalescence and thermal models. For the first time, the coalescence parameters $B_2$ for deuterons and $B_3$ for helions are compared with parameter-free theoretical predictions that are directly constrained by the femtoscopic measurement of the source radius in the same event class. A fair description of the data with a Gaussian wave function is observed for both deuteron and helion, supporting the coalescence mechanism for the production of light (anti)nuclei in pp collisions. This method paves the way for future investigations of the internal structure of more complex nuclear clusters, including the hypertriton.

The study of the production of nuclei and antinuclei in pp collisions has proven to be a powerful tool to investigate the formation mechanism of loosely bound states in high-energy hadronic collisions. In this paper, the production of protons, deuterons and $^3$He and their charge conjugates at midrapidity is studied as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity in inelastic pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=5.02$ TeV using the ALICE detector. Within the uncertainties, the yields of nuclei in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=5.02$ TeV are compatible with those in pp collisions at different energies and to those in p-Pb collisions when compared at similar multiplicities. The measurements are compared with the expectations of coalescence and Statistical Hadronisation Models. The results suggest a common formation mechanism behind the production of light nuclei in hadronic interactions and confirm that they do not depend on the collision energy but on the number of produced particles.

Measurements of elliptic ($v_2$) and triangular ($v_3$) flow coefficients of $\pi^{\pm}$, K$^{\pm}$, p+$\rm \overline{p}$, K$^0_{\rm S}$, and $\Lambda + \overline{\Lambda}$ obtained with the scalar product method in Xe-Xe collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.44 TeV are presented. The results are obtained in the rapidity range $\left | y \right |<0.5$ and reported as a function of transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, for several collision centrality classes. The flow coefficients exhibit a particle mass dependence for $p_{\rm T}<3$ GeV/$c$, while a grouping according to particle type (i.e., meson and baryon) is found at intermediate transverse momenta (3< $p_{\rm T}$ <8 GeV/$c$). The magnitude of the baryon $v_{2}$ is larger than that of mesons up to $p_{\rm T}$ = 6 GeV/$c$. The centrality dependence of the shape evolution of the $p_{\rm T}$-differential $v_2$ is studied for the various hadron species. The $v_2$ coefficients of $\pi^{\pm}$, K$^{\pm}$, and p+$\rm \overline{p}$ are reproduced by MUSIC hydrodynamic calculations coupled to a hadronic cascade model (UrQMD) for $p_{\rm T} <1$ GeV/$c$. A comparison with $v_{\rm n}$ measurements in the corresponding centrality intervals in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV yields an enhanced $v_2$ in central collisions and diminished value in semicentral collisions.

We report on the inclusive J/$\psi$ production cross section measured at the CERN Large Hadron Collider in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}~=~13$ TeV. The J/$\psi$ mesons are reconstructed in the $\rm e^{+} e^{-}$ decay channel and the measurements are performed at midrapidity ($|y|<0.9$) in the transverse-momentum interval $0< p_{\rm T} <40$ GeV/$c$, using a minimum bias data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity $L_{\text{int}} = 32.2~\text{nb}^{-1}$ and an Electromagnetic Calorimeter triggered data sample with $L_{\text{int}} = 8.3~\mathrm{pb}^{-1}$. The $p_{\rm T}$-integrated J/$\psi$ production cross section at midrapidity, computed using the minimum bias data sample, is $\text{d}\sigma/\text{d}y|_{y=0} = 8.97\pm0.24~(\text{stat})\pm0.48~(\text{syst})\pm0.15~(\text{lumi})~\mu\text{b}$. An approximate logarithmic dependence with the collision energy is suggested by these results and available world data, in agreement with model predictions. The integrated and $p_{\rm T}$-differential measurements are compared with measurements in pp collisions at lower energies and with several recent phenomenological calculations based on the non-relativistic QCD and Color Evaporation models.

A newly developed observable for correlations between symmetry planes, which characterize the direction of the anisotropic emission of produced particles, is measured in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV with ALICE. This so-called Gaussian Estimator allows for the first time the study of these quantities without the influence of correlations between different flow amplitudes. The centrality dependence of various correlations between two, three and four symmetry planes is presented. The ordering of magnitude between these symmetry plane correlations is discussed and the results of the Gaussian Estimator are compared with measurements of previously used estimators. The results utilizing the new estimator lead to significantly smaller correlations than reported by studies using the Scalar Product method. Furthermore, the obtained symmetry plane correlations are compared to state-of-the-art hydrodynamic model calculations for the evolution of heavy-ion collisions. While the model predictions provide a qualitative description of the data, quantitative agreement is not always observed, particularly for correlators with significant non-linear response of the medium to initial state anisotropies of the collision system. As these results provide unique and independent information, their usage in future Bayesian analysis can further constrain our knowledge on the properties of the QCD matter produced in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions.

The production of $\Lambda$ baryons and ${\rm K}^{0}_{\rm S}$ mesons (${\rm V}^{0}$ particles) was measured in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV and pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The production of these strange particles is studied separately for particles associated with hard scatterings and the underlying event to shed light on the baryon-to-meson ratio enhancement observed at intermediate transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) in high multiplicity pp and p-Pb collisions. Hard scatterings are selected on an event-by-event basis with jets reconstructed with the anti-$k_{\rm T}$ algorithm using charged particles. The production of strange particles associated with jets $p_{\rm T,\;jet}^{\rm ch}>10$ and $p_{\rm T,\;jet}^{\rm ch}>20$ GeV/$c$ in p-Pb collisions, and with jet $p_{\rm T,\;jet}^{\rm ch}>10$ GeV/$c$ in pp collisions is reported as a function of $p_{\rm T}$. Its dependence on angular distance from the jet axis, $R({\rm V}^{0},\;{\rm jet})$, for jets with $p_{\rm T,\;jet}^{\rm ch}>10$ GeV/$c$ in p-Pb collisions is reported as well. The $p_{\rm T}$-differential production spectra of strange particles associated with jets are found to be harder compared to that in the underlying event and both differ from the inclusive measurements. In events containing a jet, the density of the ${\rm V}^{0}$ particles in the underlying event is found to be larger than the density in the minimum bias events. The $\Lambda/{\rm K}^{0}_{\rm S}$ ratio associated with jets in p-Pb collisions is consistent with the ratio in pp collisions and follows the expectation of jets fragmenting in vacuum. On the other hand, this ratio within jets is consistently lower than the one obtained in the underlying event and it does not show the characteristic enhancement of baryons at intermediate $p_{\rm T}$ often referred to as "baryon anomaly" in the inclusive measurements.

The production of $\phi$ mesons has been studied in pp collisions at LHC energies with the ALICE detector via the dimuon decay channel in the rapidity region $2.5 < y < 4$. Measurements of the differential cross section ${\rm d}^2\sigma/{\rm d}y {\rm d}p_{\rm T}$ are presented as a function of the transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) at the center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s}=5.02$, 8 and 13 TeV and compared with the ALICE results at midrapidity. The differential cross sections at $\sqrt{s}=5.02$ and 13 TeV are also studied in several rapidity intervals as a function of $p_{\rm T}$, and as a function of rapidity in three $p_{\rm T}$ intervals. A hardening of the $p_{\rm T}$-differential cross section with the collision energy is observed, while, for a given energy, $p_{\rm T}$ spectra soften with increasing rapidity and, conversely, rapidity distributions get slightly narrower at increasing $p_{\rm T}$. The new results, complementing the published measurements at $\sqrt{s}=2.76$ and 7 TeV, allow one to establish the energy dependence of $\phi$ meson production and to compare the measured cross sections with phenomenological models. None of the considered models manages to describe the evolution of the cross section with $p_{\rm T}$ and rapidity at all the energies.

The multiplicity dependence of jet production in pp collisions at the centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13\ \mathrm{TeV}$ is studied for the first time. Jets are reconstructed from charged particles using the anti-$k_\mathrm{T}$ algorithm with resolution parameters $R$ varying from $0.2$ to $0.7$. The jets are measured in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta_{\rm jet}|< 0.9-R$ and in the transverse momentum range $5<p_\mathrm{T,jet}^{\rm ch}<140\ \mathrm{GeV}/c$. The multiplicity intervals are categorised by the ALICE forward detector V0. The $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ differential cross section of charged-particle jets are compared to leading order (LO) and next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) calculations. It is found that the data are better described by the NLO calculation, although the NLO prediction overestimates the jet cross section below $20\ \mathrm{GeV}/c$. The cross section ratios for different $R$ are also measured and compared to model calculations. These measurements provide insights into the angular dependence of jet fragmentation. The jet yield increases with increasing self-normalised charged-particle multiplicity. This increase shows only a weak dependence on jet transverse momentum and resolution parameter at the highest multiplicity. While such behaviour is qualitatively described by the present version of PYTHIA, quantitative description may require implementing new mechanisms for multi-particle production in hadronic collisions.