Measurements of cross sections of inelastic and diffractive processes in proton--proton collisions at LHC energies were carried out with the ALICE detector. The fractions of diffractive processes in inelastic collisions were determined from a study of gaps in charged particle pseudorapidity distributions: for single diffraction (diffractive mass $M_X < 200$ GeV/$c^2$) $\sigma_{\rm SD}/\sigma_{\rm INEL} = 0.21 \pm 0.03, 0.20^{+0.07}_{-0.08}$, and $0.20^{+0.04}_{-0.07}$, respectively at centre-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s} = 0.9, 2.76$, and 7~TeV; for double diffraction (for a pseudorapidity gap $\Delta\eta > 3$) $\sigma_{\rm DD}/\sigma_{\rm INEL} = 0.11 \pm 0.03, 0.12 \pm 0.05$, and $0.12^{+0.05}_{-0.04}$, respectively at $\sqrt{s} = 0.9, 2.76$, and 7~TeV. To measure the inelastic cross section, beam properties were determined with van der Meer scans, and, using a simulation of diffraction adjusted to data, the following values were obtained: $\sigma_{\rm INEL} = 62.8^{+2.4}_{-4.0} (model) \pm 1.2 (lumi)$ mb at $\sqrt{s} =$ 2.76~TeV and $73.2^{+2.0}_{-4.6} (model) \pm 2.6 (lumi)$ mb at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7~TeV. The single- and double-diffractive cross sections were calculated combining relative rates of diffraction with inelastic cross sections. The results are compared to previous measurements at proton--antiproton and proton--proton colliders at lower energies, to measurements by other experiments at the LHC, and to theoretical models.

We report on the production of inclusive $\Upsilon$(1S) and $\Upsilon$(2S) in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV at the LHC. The measurement is performed with the ALICE detector at backward ($-4.46< y_{{\rm cms}}<-2.96$) and forward ($2.03< y_{{\rm cms}}<3.53$) rapidity down to zero transverse momentum. The production cross sections of the $\Upsilon$(1S) and $\Upsilon$(2S) are presented, as well as the nuclear modification factor and the ratio of the forward to backward yields of $\Upsilon$(1S). A suppression of the inclusive $\Upsilon$(1S) yield in p-Pb collisions with respect to the yield from pp collisions scaled by the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions is observed at forward rapidity but not at backward rapidity. The results are compared to theoretical model calculations including nuclear shadowing or partonic energy loss effects.

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 $\Xi$.

The inclusive production cross sections at forward rapidity of J/$\psi$, $\psi$(2S), $\Upsilon$(1S) and $\Upsilon$(2S) are measured in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The analysis is based in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.35 pb$^{-1}$. Quarkonia are reconstructed in the dimuon-decay channel and the signal yields are evaluated by fitting the $\mu^+\mu^-$ invariant mass distributions. The differential production cross sections are measured as a function of the transverse momentum $p_{\rm T}$ and rapidity $y$, over the ranges $0 < p_{\rm T} < 20$ GeV/$c$ for J/$\psi$, $0 < p_{\rm T} < 12$ GeV/$c$ for all other resonances and for $2.5 < y < 4$. The measured cross sections integrated over $p_{\rm T}$ and $y$, and assuming unpolarized quarkonia, are: $\sigma_{J/\psi} = 6.69 \pm 0.04 \pm 0.63$ $\mu$b, $\sigma_{\psi^{\prime}} = 1.13 \pm 0.07 \pm 0.14$ $\mu$b, $\sigma_{\Upsilon{\rm(1S)}} = 54.2 \pm 5.0 \pm 6.7$ nb and $\sigma_{\Upsilon{\rm (2S)}} = 18.4 \pm 3.7 \pm 2.2$ nb, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second one is systematic. The results are compared to measurements performed by other LHC experiments and to theoretical models.

The ALICE Collaboration has studied the inclusive production of the charmonium state $\psi(2S)$ in proton-lead (p-Pb) collisions at the nucleon-nucleon centre of mass energy $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV at the CERN LHC. The measurement was performed at forward ($2.03<y_{cms}<3.53$) and backward ($-4.46<y_{cms}<-2.96$) centre of mass rapidities, studying the decays into muon pairs. In this paper, we present the inclusive production cross sections $\sigma_{\psi(2S)}$, both integrated and as a function of the transverse momentum $p_{T}$, for the two $y_{cms}$ domains. The results are compared to those obtained for the 1S vector state (J/$\psi$), by showing the ratios between the production cross sections, as well as the double ratios $[\sigma_{\psi(2S)}/\sigma_{J/\psi}]_{pPb}/[\sigma_{\psi(2S)}/\sigma_{J/\psi}]_{pp}$ between p-Pb and proton-proton collisions. Finally, the nuclear modification factor for inclusive $\psi(2S)$ is evaluated and compared to the measurement of the same quantity for J/$\psi$ and to theoretical models including parton shadowing and coherent energy loss mechanisms. The results show a significantly larger suppression of the $\psi(2S)$ compared to that measured for J/$\psi$ and to models. These observations represent a clear indication for sizeable final state effects on $\psi(2S)$ production.

We present the first measurement at the LHC of exclusive J/$\psi$ photoproduction off protons, in ultra-peripheral proton-lead collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$ TeV. Events are selected with a dimuon pair produced either in the rapidity interval, in the laboratory frame, $2.5<y<4$ (p-Pb) or $-3.6<y<-2.6$ (Pb--p), and no other particles observed in the ALICE acceptance. The measured cross sections $\sigma (\gamma + {\rm p} \rightarrow J/\psi + {\rm p})$ are 33.2 $\pm$ 2.2 (stat) $\pm$ 3.1 (syst) $\pm$ 0.7 (theo) nb in p-Pb and 284 $\pm$ 36 (stat) $^{+27}_{-32}$ (syst) $\pm$ 26 (theo) nb in Pb-p collisions. We measure this process up to about 700 GeV in the $\gamma {\rm p}$ centre-of-mass, which is a factor of two larger than the highest energy studied at HERA. The data are consistent with a power law dependence of the $J/\psi$ photoproduction cross section in $\gamma {\rm p}$ energies from about 20 to 700 GeV, or equivalently, from Bjorken-$x$ between $\sim 2\times 10^{-2}$ to $\sim 2\times 10^{-5}$, thus indicating no significant change in the gluon density behaviour of the proton between HERA and LHC energies.

The $p_{\rm T}$-differential production cross sections of the prompt (B feed-down subtracted) charmed mesons D$^0$, D$^+$, and D$^{*+}$ in the rapidity range $|y|<0.5$, and for transverse momentum $1< p_{\rm T} <12$ GeV/$c$, were measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis exploited the hadronic decays D$^0 \rightarrow $K$\pi$, D$^+ \rightarrow $K$\pi\pi$, D$^{*+} \rightarrow $D$^0\pi$, and their charge conjugates, and was performed on a $L_{\rm int} = 1.1$ nb$^{-1}$ event sample collected in 2011 with a minimum-bias trigger. The total charm production cross section at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV and at 7 TeV was evaluated by extrapolating to the full phase space the $p_{\rm T}$-differential production cross sections at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV and our previous measurements at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV. The results were compared to existing measurements and to perturbative-QCD calculations. The fraction of cdbar D mesons produced in a vector state was also determined.

The $p_{\rm T}$-differential inclusive production cross section of the prompt charm-strange meson $\rm D_s^+$ in the rapidity range $|y|<0.5$ was measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV at the LHC using the ALICE detector. The analysis was performed on a data sample of $2.98 \times 10^8$ events collected with a minimum-bias trigger. The corresponding integrated luminosity is $L_{\rm int}=4.8$/nb. Reconstructing the decay ${\rm D_s^{+}\to \phi\pi^+}$, with $\phi\to {\rm K}^-{\rm K}^+$, and its charge conjugate, about 480 ${\rm D_s^{\pm}}$ mesons were counted, after selection cuts, in the transverse momentum range $2<p_{\rm T}<12$ Gev/$c$. The results are compared with predictions from models based on perturbative QCD. The ratios of the cross sections of four D meson species (namely ${\rm D^0}$, ${\rm D^+}$, ${\rm D^{*+}}$ and ${\rm D_s^+}$) were determined both as a function of $p_{\rm T}$ and integrated over $p_{\rm T}$ after extrapolating to full $p_{\rm T}$ range, together with the strangeness suppression factor in charm fragmentation. The obtained values are found to be compatible within uncertainties with those measured by other experiments in $\rm e^+e^-$, ep and pp interactions at various centre-of-mass energies.

The ALICE measurement of K$^0_{\rm S}$ and $\rm\Lambda$ production at mid-rapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV is presented. The transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra are shown for several collision centrality intervals and in the $p_{\rm T}$ range from 0.4 GeV/$c$ (0.6 GeV/$c$ for $\rm\Lambda$) to 12 GeV/$c$. The $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the $\rm \Lambda$/K$^0_{\rm S}$ ratios exhibits maxima in the vicinity of 3 GeV/$c$, and the positions of the maxima shift towards higher $p_{\rm T}$ with increasing collision centrality. The magnitude of these maxima increases by almost a factor of three between most peripheral and most central Pb-Pb collisions. This baryon excess at intermediate $p_{\rm T}$ is not observed in pp interactions at sqrt(s) = 0.9 TeV and at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. Qualitatively, the baryon enhancement in heavy-ion collisions is expected from radial flow. However, the measured $p_{\rm T}$ spectra above 2 GeV/$c$ progressively decouple from hydrodynamical-model calculations. For higher values of $p_{\rm T}$, models that incorporate the influence of the medium on the fragmentation and hadronization processes describe qualitatively the $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the $\rm\Lambda$/K$^0_{\rm S}$ ratio.

The production of prompt D$_s^+$ mesons was measured for the first time in collisions of heavy nuclei with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The analysis was performed on a data sample of Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair, $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$, of 2.76 TeV in two different centrality classes, namely 0-10% and 20-50%. D$_s^+$ mesons and their antiparticles were reconstructed at mid-rapidity from their hadronic decay channel D$_s^+\rightarrow\phi\pi^+$, with $\phi\rightarrow$K$^-$K$^+$, in the transverse momentum intervals $4< p_{\rm T}<12$ GeV/$c$ and $6< p_{\rm T}<12$ GeV/$c$ for the 0-10% and 20-50% centrality classes, respectively. The nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm AA}$ was computed by comparing the $p_{\rm T}$-differential production yields in Pb-Pb collisions to those in proton-proton (pp) collisions at the same energy. This pp reference was obtained using the cross section measured at $\sqrt{s}= 7$ TeV and scaled to $\sqrt{s}= 2.76$ TeV. The $R_{\rm AA}$ of D$_s^+$ mesons was compared to that of non-strange D mesons in the 10% most central Pb-Pb collisions. At high $p_{\rm T}$ ($8< p_{\rm T}<12$ GeV/$c$) a suppression of the D$_s^+$-meson yield by a factor of about three, compatible within uncertainties with that of non-strange D mesons, is observed. At lower $p_{\rm T}$ ($4< p_{\rm T}<8$ GeV/$c$) the values of the D$_s^+$-meson $R_{\rm AA}$ are larger than those of non-strange D mesons, although compatible within uncertainties. The production ratios D$_s^+$/D$^0$ and D$_s^+$\D$^+$ were also measured in Pb-Pb collisions and compared to their values in proton-proton collisions.