A detailed study of pseudorapidity densities and multiplicity distributions of primary charged particles produced in proton-proton collisions, at $\sqrt{s} =$ 0.9, 2.36, 2.76, 7 and 8 TeV, in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta|<2$, was carried out using the ALICE detector. Measurements were obtained for three event classes: inelastic, non-single diffractive and events with at least one charged particle in the pseudorapidity interval $|\eta|<1$. The use of an improved track-counting algorithm combined with ALICE's measurements of diffractive processes allows a higher precision compared to our previous publications. A KNO scaling study was performed in the pseudorapidity intervals $|\eta|<$ 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5. The data are compared to other experimental results and to models as implemented in Monte Carlo event generators PHOJET and recent tunes of PYTHIA6, PYTHIA8 and EPOS.

Differential cross sections of charged particles in inelastic pp collisions as a function of $p_{\rm T}$ have been measured at $\sqrt{s}=$ 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV at the LHC. The $p_{\rm T}$ spectra are compared to NLO-pQCD calculations. Though the differential cross section for an individual $\sqrt{s}$ cannot be described by NLO-pQCD, the relative increase of cross section with $\sqrt{s}$ is in agreement with NLO-pQCD. Based on these measurements and observations, procedures are discussed to construct pp reference spectra at $\sqrt{s} =$ 2.76 and 5.02 TeV up to $p_{\rm T}$ = 50 GeV/$c$ as required for the calculation of the nuclear modification factor in nucleus-nucleus and proton-nucleus collisions.

The transverse momentum ($p_{\mathrm T}$) distribution of primary charged particles is measured at midrapidity in minimum-bias p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC in the range $0.15<p_{\mathrm T}<50$ GeV/$c$. The spectra are compared to the expectation based on binary collision scaling of particle production in pp collisions, leading to a nuclear modification factor consistent with unity for $p_{\mathrm T}$ larger than 2 GeV/$c$, with a weak indication of a Cronin-like enhancement for $p_{\rm T}$ around 4 GeV/$c$. The measurement is compared to theoretical calculations and to data in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV.

The average transverse momentum $\langle p_{\rm T}\rangle$ versus the charged-particle multiplicity $N_{\rm ch}$ was measured in p-Pb collisions at a collision energy per nucleon-nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV and in pp collisions at collision energies of $\sqrt{s}=0.9$, 2.76, and 7 TeV in the kinematic range $0.15<p_{\rm T}<10.0$ GeV/$c$ and $|\eta|<0.3$ with the ALICE apparatus at the LHC. These data are compared to results in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV at similar charged-particle multiplicities. In pp and p-Pb collisions, a strong increase of $\langle p_{\rm T}\rangle$ with $N_{\rm ch}$ is observed, which is much stronger than that measured in Pb-Pb collisions. For pp collisions, this could be attributed, within a model of hadronizing strings, to multiple-parton interactions and to a final-state color reconnection mechanism. The data in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions cannot be described by an incoherent superposition of nucleon-nucleon collisions and pose a challenge to most of the event generators.

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.

Multiplicity ($N_{\rm ch}$) distributions and transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra of inclusive primary charged particles in the kinematic range of $|\eta| < 0.8$ and 0.15 GeV/$c$$< p_{T} <$ 10 GeV/$c$ are reported for pp, p-Pb, Xe-Xe and Pb-Pb collisions at centre-of-mass energies per nucleon pair ranging from $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV up to $13$ TeV. A sequential two-dimensional unfolding procedure is used to extract the correlation between the transverse momentum of primary charged particles and the charged-particle multiplicity of the corresponding collision. This correlation sharply characterises important features of the final state of a collision and, therefore, can be used as a stringent test of theoretical models. The multiplicity distributions as well as the mean and standard deviation derived from the $p_{\rm T}$ spectra are compared to state-of-the-art model predictions. Providing these fundamental observables of bulk particle production consistently across a wide range of collision energies and system sizes can serve as an important input for tuning Monte Carlo event 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 report the measured transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra of primary charged particles from pp, p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV in the kinematic range of $0.15<p_{\rm T}<50$ GeV/$c$ and $|\eta|< 0.8$. A significant improvement of systematic uncertainties motivated the reanalysis of data in pp and Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV, as well as in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV, which is also presented. Spectra from Pb-Pb collisions are presented in nine centrality intervals and are compared to a reference spectrum from pp collisions scaled by the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions. For central collisions, the $p_{\rm T}$ spectra are suppressed by more than a factor of 7 around 6-7 GeV/$c$ with a significant reduction in suppression towards higher momenta up to 30 GeV/$c$. The nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm pPb}$, constructed from the pp and p-Pb spectra measured at the same collision energy, is consistent with unity above 8 GeV/$c$. While the spectra in both pp and Pb-Pb collisions are substantially harder at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02$ TeV compared to 2.76 TeV, the nuclear modification factors show no significant collision energy dependence. The obtained results should provide further constraints on the parton energy loss calculations to determine the transport properties of the hot and dense QCD matter.

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.