The production of neutral strange particlesKso, Λ and\(\bar \Lambda \) has been studied in 60 and 200 GeV per nucleon OAu and pAu collisions with the streamer chamber vertex spectrometer of the NA35 experiment at the CERN-SPS accelerator. Ratios of neutral strange particle production to negatively charged particle production in selected regions of phase space were measured to be the same in OAu and pAu reactions. The rates of strange particle production in central OAu collisions are about a factor of 16 higher than in pAu collisions when compared in the same regions of phase space. If an enhancement of strange particle production in OAu collisions relative to pAu collisions is considered to be a signature for quark-gluon plasma formation, no evidence supporting it is observed. The experimental results are compared to the Lund FRITIOF model.

In this paper measurements are presented of $\rm \pi$$^+$, $\rm \pi$$^-$, K$^+$, K$^-$, p and $\overline{\rm p}$ production at mid-rapidity < 0.5, in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV as a function of centrality. The measurement covers the transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) range from 100, 200, 300 MeV/$c$ up to 3, 3, 4.6 GeV/$c$, for $\rm\pi$, K, and p respectively. The measured $p_{\rm T}$ distributions and yields are compared to expectations based on hydrodynamic, thermal and recombination models. The spectral shapes of central collisions show a stronger radial flow than measured at lower energies, which can be described in hydrodynamic models. In peripheral collisions, the $p_{\rm T}$ distributions are not well reproduced by hydrodynamic models. Ratios of integrated particle yields are found to be nearly independent of centrality. The yield of protons normalized to pions is a factor ~1.5 lower than the expectation from thermal models.

We report measurements of the primary charged particle pseudorapidity density and transverse momentum distributions in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV, and investigate their correlation with experimental observables sensitive to the centrality of the collision. Centrality classes are defined using different event activity estimators, i.e. charged particle multiplicities measured in three disjunct pseudorapidity regions as well as the energy measured at beam rapidity (zero-degree). The procedures to determine the centrality, quantified by the number of participants ($N_{\rm part}$), or the number of nucleon-nucleon binary collisions ($N_{\rm coll}$), are described. We show that, in contrast to Pb-Pb collisions, in p-Pb collisions large multiplicity fluctuations together with the small range of participants available, generate a dynamical bias in centrality classes based on particle multiplicity. We propose to use the zero-degree energy, which we expect not to introduce a dynamical bias, as an alternative event-centrality estimator. Based on zero-degree energy centrality classes, the $N_{\rm part}$ dependence of particle production is studied. Under the assumption that the multiplicity measured in the Pb-going rapidity region scales with the number of Pb-participants, an approximate independence of the multiplicity per participating nucleon measured at mid-rapitity of the number of participating nucleons is observed. Furthermore, at high-$p_{\rm T}$ the p-Pb spectra are found to be consistent with the pp spectra scaled by $N_{\rm coll}$ for all centrality classes. Our results represent valuable input for the study of the event activity dependence of hard probes in p-Pb collision and, hence, help to establish baselines for the interpretation of the Pb-Pb data.

Transverse momentum ($p_{\rm{T}}$) spectra of pions, kaons, and protons up to $p_{\rm{T}} = 20$ GeV/$c$ have been measured in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV using the ALICE detector for six different centrality classes covering 0-80%. The proton-to-pion and the kaon-to-pion ratios both show a distinct peak at $p_{\rm{T}} \approx 3$ GeV/$c$ in central Pb-Pb collisions that decreases towards more peripheral collisions. For $p_{\rm{T}} > 10$ GeV/$c$, the nuclear modification factor is found to be the same for all three particle species in each centrality interval within systematic uncertainties of 10-20%. This suggests there is no direct interplay between the energy loss in the medium and the particle species composition in the hard core of the quenched jet. For $p_{\rm{T}} < 10$ GeV/$c$, the data provide important constraints for models aimed at describing the transition from soft to hard physics.

The transverse momentum and rapidity distributions of net protons and negatively charged hadrons have been measured for minimum bias proton-nucleus and deuteron-gold interactions, as well as central oxygen-gold and sulphur-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon. The rapidity density of net protons at midrapidity in central nucleus-nucleus collisions increases both with target mass for sulphur projectiles and with the projectile mass for a gold target. The shape of the rapidity distributions of net protons forward of midrapidity for d+Au and central S+Au collisions is similar. The average rapidity loss is larger than 2 units of rapidity for reactions with the gold target. The transverse momentum spectra of net protons for all reactions can be described by a thermal distribution with `temperatures' between 145 +- 11 MeV (p+S interactions) and 244 +- 43 MeV (central S+Au collisions). The multiplicity of negatively charged hadrons increases with the mass of the colliding system. The shape of the transverse momentum spectra of negatively charged hadrons changes from minimum bias p+p and p+S interactions to p+Au and central nucleus-nucleus collisions. The mean transverse momentum is almost constant in the vicinity of midrapidity and shows little variation with the target and projectile masses. The average number of produced negatively charged hadrons per participant baryon increases slightly from p+p, p+A to central S+S,Ag collisions.

The production of jets associated to bottom quarks is measured for the first time in PbPb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV per nucleon pair. Jet spectra are reported in the transverse momentum (pt) range of 80-250 GeV, and within pseudorapidity abs(eta < 2). The nuclear modification factor (R[AA]) calculated from these spectra shows a strong suppression in the b-jet yield in PbPb collisions relative to the yield observed in pp collisions at the same energy. The suppression persists to the largest values of pt studied, and is centrality dependent. The R[AA] is about 0.4 in the most central events, similar to previous observations for inclusive jets. This implies that jet quenching does not have a strong dependence on parton mass and flavor in the jet pt range studied.

For the first time at LHC energies, the forward rapidity gap spectra from proton-lead collisions for both proton and lead dissociation processes are presented. The analysis is performed over 10.4 units of pseudorapidity at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 8.16 TeV, almost 300 times higher than in previous measurements of diffractive production in proton-nucleus collisions. For lead dissociation processes, which correspond to the pomeron-lead event topology, the EPOS-LHC generator predictions are a factor of two below the data, but the model gives a reasonable description of the rapidity gap spectrum shape. For the pomeron-proton topology, the EPOS-LHC, QGSJET II, and HIJING predictions are all at least a factor of five lower than the data. The latter effect might be explained by a significant contribution of ultra-peripheral photoproduction events mimicking the signature of diffractive processes. These data may be of significant help in understanding the high energy limit of quantum chromodynamics and for modeling cosmic ray air showers.

The HELIOS experiment has measured inclusivep⊥ spectra of negative particles in the rapidity region 1.0<y<1.9. The general shape of thep⊥ spectra in p +W, O+W and S+W is similar, but cannot be described by a single exponential. Compared to p+p collisions, an excess is observed for low and highp⊥. This effect increases with the projectile mass. Except for very lowE⊥, the average transverse momentum <p⊥> is found to be approximately constant up to the highest accessible values ofE⊥.

Characteristics of multi-particle production in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=7 TeV are studied as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity, $N_{ch}$. The produced particles are separated into two classes: those belonging to jets and those belonging to the underlying event. Charged particles are measured with pseudorapidity |η|<2.4 and transverse momentum $p_T$ > 0.25 GeV/c. Jets are reconstructed from charged-particles only and required to have $p_T$ > 5 GeV/c. The distributions of jet $p_T$, average $p_T$ of charged particles belonging to the underlying event or to jets, jet rates, and jet shapes are presented as functions of $N_{ch}$ and compared to the predictions of the PYTHIA and HERWIG event generators. Predictions without multi-parton interactions fail completely to describe the $N_{ch}$-dependence observed in the data. For increasing $N_{ch}$, PYTHIA systematically predicts higher jet rates and harder $p_T$ spectra than seen in the data, whereas HERWIG shows the opposite trends. At the highest multiplicity, the data–model agreement is worse for most observables, indicating the need for further tuning and/or new model ingredients.

The yields of the K*(892)$^{0}$ and $\Phi$(1020) resonances are measured in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV through their hadronic decays using the ALICE detector. The measurements are performed in multiple centrality intervals at mid-rapidity (|$y$|<0.5) in the transverse-momentum ranges 0.3 < $p_{\rm T}$ < 5 GeV/$c$ for the K*(892)$^{0}$ and 0.5 < $p_{\rm T}$ < 5 GeV/$c$ for the $\Phi$(1020). The yields of K*(892)$^{0}$ are suppressed in central Pb-Pb collisions with respect to pp and peripheral Pb-Pb collisions (perhaps due to rescattering of its decay products in the hadronic medium), while the longer lived $\Phi$(1020) meson is not suppressed. These particles are also used as probes to study the mechanisms of particle production. The shape of the $p_{\rm T}$ distribution of the $\Phi$(1020) meson, but not its yield, is reproduced fairly well by hydrodynamic models for central Pb-Pb collisions. In central Pb-Pb collisions at low and intermediate $p_{\rm T}$, the p/$\Phi$(1020) ratio is flat in $p_{\rm T}$, while the p/$\pi$ and $\Phi$(1020)/$\pi$ ratios show a pronounced increase and have similar shapes to each other. These results indicate that the shapes of the $p_{\rm T}$ distributions of these particles in central Pb-Pb collisions are determined predominantly by the particle masses and radial flow. Finally, $\Phi$(1020) production in Pb-Pb collisions is enhanced, with respect to the yield in pp collisions and the yield of charged pions, by an amount similar to the $\Lambda$ and $\Xi$.