The first study of $\phi$-meson production in p-Pb collisions at forward and backward rapidity, at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$~TeV, has been performed with the ALICE apparatus at the LHC. The $\phi$-mesons have been identified in the dimuon decay channel in the transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) range $1 < p_{\rm T} < 7$ GeV/$c$, both in the p-going ($2.03 < y < 3.53$) and the Pb-going ($-4.46 < y < -2.96$) directions, where $y$ stands for the rapidity in the nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass, the integrated luminosity amounting to $5.01 \pm 0.19$~nb$^{-1}$ and $5.81 \pm 0.20$~nb$^{-1}$, respectively, for the two data samples. Differential cross sections as a function of transverse momentum and rapidity are presented. The forward-backward ratio for $\phi$-meson production is measured for $2.96<|y|<3.53$, resulting in a ratio $\sim 0.5$ with no significant $p_{\rm T}$ dependence within the uncertainties. The $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the $\phi$ nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm pPb}$ exhibits an enhancement up to a factor 1.6 at $p_{\rm T}$ = 3-4 GeV/$c$ in the Pb-going direction. The $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the $\phi$-meson cross section in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 2.76 TeV, which is used to determine a reference for the p-Pb results, is also presented here for $1 < p_{\rm T} < 5$ GeV/$c$ and $2.5 <y < 4$ for a $78 \pm 3$~nb$^{-1}$ integrated luminosity sample.

The production of the hypertriton nuclei $^{3}_{\Lambda}\mathrm H$ and $^{3}_{\bar{\Lambda}} \overline{\mathrm H}$ has been measured for the first time in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV with the ALICE experiment at LHC energies. The total yield, d$N$/d$y$ $\times \mathrm{B.R.}_{\left( ^{3}_{\Lambda}\mathrm H \rightarrow ^{3}\mathrm{He},\pi^{-} \right)} = \left( 3.86 \pm 0.77 (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 0.68 (\mathrm{syst.})\right) \times 10^{-5}$ in the 0-10% most central collisions, is consistent with the predictions from a statistical thermal model using the same temperature as for the light hadrons. The coalescence parameter $B_3$ shows a dependence on the transverse momentum, similar to the $B_2$ of deuterons and the $B_3$ of $^{3}\mathrm{He}$ nuclei. The ratio of yields $S_3$ = $^{3}_{\Lambda}\mathrm H$/($^{3}\mathrm{He}$ $\times \Lambda/\mathrm{p}$) was measured to be $S_3$ = 0.60 $\pm$ 0.13 (stat.) $\pm$ 0.21 (syst.) in 0-10% centrality events; this value is compared to different theoretical models. The measured $S_3$ is fully compatible with thermal model predictions. The measured $^{3}_{\Lambda}\mathrm H$ lifetime, $ \tau = 181^{+54}_{-39} (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 33 (\mathrm{syst.})\ \mathrm{ps}$ is compatible within 1$\sigma$ with the world average value.

The production of the prompt charmed mesons $D^0$, $D^+$ and $D^{*+}$ relative to the reaction plane was measured in Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon collision of $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. D mesons were reconstructed via their hadronic decays at central rapidity in the transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) interval of 2-16 GeV/$c$. The azimuthal anisotropy is quantified in terms of the second coefficient $v_2$ in a Fourier expansion of the D meson azimuthal distribution, and in terms of the nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm AA}$, measured in the direction of the reaction plane and orthogonal to it. The $v_2$ coefficient was measured with three different methods and in three centrality classes in the interval 0-50%. A positive $v_2$ is observed in mid-central collisions (30-50% centrality class), with an mean value of $0.204_{-0.036}^{+0.099}$ (tot.unc.) in the interval $2 < p_{\rm T} < 6$ GeV/$c$, which decreases towards more central collisions (10-30% and 0-10% classes). The positive $v_2$ is also reflected in the nuclear modification factor, which shows a stronger suppression in the direction orthogonal to the reaction plane for mid-central collisions. The measurements are compared to theoretical calculations of charm quark transport and energy loss in high-density strongly-interacting matter at high temperature. The models that include substantial elastic interactions with an expanding medium provide a good description of the observed anisotropy. However, they are challenged to simultaneously describe the strong suppression of high-$p_{\rm T}$ yield of D mesons in central collisions and their azimuthal anisotropy in non-central collisions.

We present measurements of the azimuthal dependence of charged jet production in central and semi-central $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collisions with respect to the second harmonic event plane, quantified as $v_{2}^{\mathrm{ch~jet}}$. Jet finding is performed employing the anti-$k_{\mathrm{T}}$ algorithm with a resolution parameter $R$ = 0.2 using charged tracks from the ALICE tracking system. The contribution of the azimuthal anisotropy of the underlying event is taken into account event-by-event. The remaining (statistical) region-to-region fluctuations are removed on an ensemble basis by unfolding the jet spectra for different event plane orientations independently. Significant non-zero $v_{2}^{\mathrm{ch~jet}}$ is observed in semi-central collisions (30-50\% centrality) for 20 $<$ $p_{\mathrm{T}}^{\rm ch~jet}$ $<$ 90 ${\mathrm{GeV}\kern-0.05em/\kern-0.02em c}$. The azimuthal dependence of the charged jet production is similar to the dependence observed for jets comprising both charged and neutral fragments, and compatible with measurements of the $v_2$ of single charged particles at high $p_{\mathrm{T}}$. Good agreement between the data and predictions from JEWEL, an event generator simulating parton shower evolution in the presence of a dense QCD medium, is found in semi-central collisions.

The ALICE collaboration at the LHC reports measurement of the inclusive production cross section of electrons from semi-leptonic decays of beauty hadrons with rapidity $|y|<0.8$ and transverse momentum $1<p_{\mathrm{T}}<10$ GeV/$c$, in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = $ 2.76 TeV. Electrons not originating from semi-electronic decay of beauty hadrons are suppressed using the impact parameter of the corresponding tracks. The production cross section of beauty decay electrons is compared to the result obtained with an alternative method which uses the distribution of the azimuthal angle between heavy-flavour decay electrons and charged hadrons. Perturbative QCD calculations agree with the measured cross section within the experimental and theoretical uncertainties. The integrated visible cross section, $\sigma_{\mathrm{b} \rightarrow \mathrm{e}} = 3.47\pm0.40(\mathrm{stat})^{+1.12}_{-1.33}(\mathrm{sys})\pm0.07(\mathrm{norm}) \mu$b, was extrapolated to full phase space using Fixed Order plus Next-to-Leading Log (FONLL) predictions to obtain the total b$\bar{\mathrm{b}}$ production cross section, $\sigma_{\mathrm{b\bar{b}}} = 130\pm15.1(\mathrm{stat})^{+42.1}_{-49.8}(\mathrm{sys})^{+3.4}_{-3.1}(\mathrm{extr})\pm2.5(\mathrm{norm})\pm4.4(\mathrm{BR}) \mu$b.

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 nuclear modification factor, $R_{\rm AA}$, of the prompt charmed mesons ${\rm D^0}$, ${\rm D^+}$ and ${\rm D^{*+}}$, and their antiparticles, was measured with the ALICE detector in Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV in two transverse momentum intervals, $5<p_{\rm T}<8$ GeV/$c$ and $8<p_{\rm T}<16$ GeV/$c$, and in six collision centrality classes. The $R_{\rm AA}$ shows a maximum suppression of a factor of 5-6 in the 10% most central collisions. The suppression and its centrality dependence are compatible within uncertainties with those of charged pions. A comparison with the $R_{\rm AA}$ of non-prompt ${\rm J}/\psi$ from B meson decays, measured by the CMS Collaboration, hints at a larger suppression of D mesons in the most central collisions.

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.

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 centrality dependence of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density measured with ALICE in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ over a broad pseudorapidity range is presented. This Letter extends the previous results reported by ALICE to more peripheral collisions. No strong change of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density distributions with centrality is observed, and when normalised to the number of participating nucleons in the collisions, the evolution over pseudorapidity with centrality is likewise small. The broad pseudorapidity range allows precise estimates of the total number of produced charged particles which we find to range from $162\pm22$ (syst.) to $17170\pm770$ (syst.) in 80-90% and 0-5 central collisions, respectively. The total charged-particle multiplicity is seen to approximately scale with the number of participating nucleons in the collision. This suggests that hard contributions to the charged-particle multiplicity are limited. The results are compared to models which describe $\mbox{d}N_{\mbox{ch}}/\mbox{d}\eta$ at mid-rapidity in the most central Pb-Pb collisions and it is found that these models do not capture all features of the distributions.