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.

An invariant differential cross section measurement of inclusive $\pi^{0}$ and $\eta$ meson production at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV was carried out by the ALICE experiment at the LHC. The spectra of $\pi^{0}$ and $\eta$ mesons were measured in transverse momentum ranges of $0.3<p_{\rm T}<35$ GeV/$c$ and $0.5<p_{\rm T}<35$ GeV/$c$, respectively. Next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations using fragmentation functions DSS14 for the $\pi^{0}$ and AESSS for the $\eta$ overestimate the cross sections of both neutral mesons, although such calculations agree with the measured $\eta/\pi^{0}$ ratio within uncertainties. The results were also compared with PYTHIA~8.2 predictions for which the Monash~2013 tune yields the best agreement with the measured neutral meson spectra. The measurements confirm a universal behavior of the $\eta/\pi^{0}$ ratio seen for NA27, PHENIX and ALICE data for pp collisions from $\sqrt{s}=27.5$ GeV to $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV within experimental uncertainties. A relation between the $\pi^{0}$ and $\eta$ production cross sections for pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV is given by $m_{\rm T}$ scaling for $p_{\rm T}>3.5$ GeV/$c$. However, a deviation from this empirical scaling rule is observed for transverse momenta below $p_{\rm T}<3.5$ GeV/$c$ in the $\eta/\pi^0$ ratio with a significance of $6.2\sigma$.

In this Letter we report the first results on $\pi^\pm$, K$^\pm$, p and $\mathrm {p\overline{p}}$ production at mid-rapidity ($\left|y\right|<0.5$) in central Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV, measured by the ALICE experiment at the LHC. The $p_{\rm T}$ distributions and yields are compared to previous results at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 200 GeV and expectations from hydrodynamic and thermal models. The spectral shapes indicate a strong increase of the radial flow velocity with $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$, which in hydrodynamic models is expected as a consequence of the increasing particle density. While the ${\rm K}/\pi$ ratio is in line with predictions from the thermal model, the ${\rm p}/\pi$ ratio is found to be lower by a factor of about 1.5. This deviation from thermal model expectations is still to be understood.

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.

The production of K$^*$(892)$^\pm$ meson resonance is measured at midrapidity ($|y|<0.5$) in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV using the ALICE detector at the LHC. The resonance is reconstructed via its hadronic decay channel K$^*$(892)$^\pm \rightarrow \rm{K^0_S \pi^\pm}$. The transverse momentum distributions are obtained for various centrality intervals in the $p_{\rm T}$ range of 0.4-16 GeV/$c$. The reported measurements of integrated yields, mean transverse momenta, and particle yield ratios are consistent with previous ALICE measurements for K$^*$(892)$^0$. The $p_{\rm T}$-integrated yield ratio 2K$^*$(892)$^\pm$/($\rm{K^+ + K^-}$) in central Pb-Pb collisions shows a significant suppression (9.3$\sigma$) relative to pp collisions. Thermal model calculations overpredict the particle yield ratio. Although both simulations consider the hadronic phase, only HRG-PCE accurately represents the measurements, whereas MUSIC+SMASH tends to overpredict them. These observations, along with the kinetic freeze-out temperatures extracted from the yields of light-flavored hadrons using the HRG-PCE model, indicate a finite hadronic phase lifetime, which increases towards central collisions. The $p_{\rm T}$-differential yield ratios 2K$^*$(892)$^\pm$/($\rm{K^+ + K^-}$) and 2K$^*$(892)$^\pm$/($\rm{\pi^+ + \pi^-}$) are suppressed by up to a factor of five at $p_{\rm T}<2$ GeV/$c$ in central Pb-Pb collisions compared to pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 5.02 TeV. Both particle ratios and are qualitatively consistent with expectations for rescattering effects in the hadronic phase. The nuclear modification factor shows a smooth evolution with centrality and is below unity at $p_{\rm T}>8$ GeV/$c$, consistent with measurements for other light-flavored hadrons. The smallest values are observed in most central collisions, indicating larger energy loss of partons traversing the dense medium.

The transverse momentum ($p_{\rm{T}}$) differential yields of (anti-)$^3$He and (anti-)$^3$H measured in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV with ALICE at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are presented. The ratios of the $p_{\rm{T}}$-integrated yields of (anti-)$^3$He and (anti-)$^3$H to the proton yields are reported, as well as the $p_{\rm{T}}$ dependence of the coalescence parameters $B_3$ for (anti-)$^3$He and (anti-)$^3$H. For (anti-)$^3$He, the results obtained in four classes of the mean charged-particle multiplicity density are also discussed. These results are compared to predictions from a canonical statistical hadronization model and coalescence approaches. An upper limit on the total yield of $^4\bar{\mathrm{He}}$ is determined.

We present the charged-particle pseudorapidity density in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02\,\mathrm{Te\kern-.25exV}$ in centrality classes measured by ALICE. The measurement covers a wide pseudorapidity range from $-3.5$ to $5$, which is sufficient for reliable estimates of the total number of charged particles produced in the collisions. For the most central (0-5%) collisions we find $21\,400\pm 1\,300$ while for the most peripheral (80-90%) we find $230\pm 38$. This corresponds to an increase of $(27\pm4)\%$ over the results at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=2.76\,\mathrm{Te\kern-.25exV}$ previously reported by ALICE. The energy dependence of the total number of charged particles produced in heavy-ion collisions is found to obey a modified power-law like behaviour. The charged-particle pseudorapidity density of the most central collisions is compared to model calculations --- none of which fully describes the measured distribution. We also present an estimate of the rapidity density of charged particles. The width of that distribution is found to exhibit a remarkable proportionality to the beam rapidity, independent of the collision energy from the top SPS to LHC energies.

We present the first wide-range measurement of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density distribution, for different centralities (the 0-5%, 5-10%, 10-20%, and 20-30% most central events) in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV at the LHC. The measurement is performed using the full coverage of the ALICE detectors, $-5.0 < \eta < 5.5$, and employing a special analysis technique based on collisions arising from LHC "satellite" bunches. We present the pseudorapidity density as a function of the number of participating nucleons as well as an extrapolation to the total number of produced charged particles ($N_{\rm ch} = 17165 \pm 772$ for the 0-5% most central collisions). From the measured ${\rm d}N_{\rm ch}/{\rm d}\eta$ distribution we derive the rapidity density distribution, ${\rm d}N_{\rm ch}/{\rm d}y$, under simple assumptions. The rapidity density distribution is found to be significantly wider than the predictions of the Landau model. We assess the validity of longitudinal scaling by comparing to lower energy results from RHIC. Finally the mechanisms of the underlying particle production are discussed based on a comparison with various theoretical models.

The production of $\Upsilon$ mesons in Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5 TeV is measured with the muon spectrometer of the ALICE detector at the LHC. The yields as well as the nuclear modification factors are determined in the forward rapidity region $2.5<y<4.0$, as a function of rapidity, transverse momentum and collision centrality. The results show that the production of the $\Upsilon$(1S) meson is suppressed by a factor of about three with respect to the production in proton-proton collisions. For the first time, a significant signal for the $\Upsilon$(2S) meson is observed at forward rapidity, indicating a suppression stronger by about a factor 2-3 with respect to the ground state. The measurements are compared with transport, hydrodynamic, comover and statistical hadronisation model calculations.

We report measurements of the inclusive J/$\psi$ yield and average transverse momentum as a function of charged-particle pseudorapidity density ${\rm d}N_{\rm ch}/{\rm d}\eta$ in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}= 5.02$ TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The observables are normalised to their corresponding averages in non-single diffractive events. An increase of the normalised J/$\psi$ yield with normalised ${\rm d}N_{\rm ch}/{\rm d}\eta$, measured at mid-rapidity, is observed at mid-rapidity and backward rapidity. At forward rapidity, a saturation of the relative yield is observed for high charged-particle multiplicities. The normalised average transverse momentum at forward and backward rapidities increases with multiplicity at low multiplicities and saturates beyond moderate multiplicities. In addition, the forward-to-backward nuclear modification factor ratio is also reported, showing an increasing suppression of J/$\psi$ production at forward rapidity with respect to backward rapidity for increasing charged-particle multiplicity.