We present the measurements of strange and multi-strange hadrons in high energy pp and Pb-Pb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The data for these measurements were collected by the ALICE detector in 2010 and 2011. By comparing strangeness data where Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) is not expected to be produced (pp collisions) with data where the energy-density of the collision is sufficient to produce the QGP (central and mid-central Pb-Pb collisions), we are able to investigate the properties of the QGP. We characterize the matter created in the collision by presenting strange and multi-strange particle spectra, yields, and transverse momenta in the context of increasing strangeness number, varying collision energy, and the number of nucleons participating in the collision (Npart).
In these proceedings, two multi-differential analyses performed in pp collisions collected by the ALICE collaboration during the LHC Run 2 are presented. One investigates the dependence of strange particle production with multiplicity and effective energy, whereas the other clarifies how strangeness enhancement is correlated to the leading jet in the event. The results suggest that strangeness production at the LHC depends strongly on effective energy, and originates dominantly from the transverse region with respect to the leading jet direction.
The study of energy and multiplicity dependence of strange hadron production in proton-proton collisions provides a powerful tool to understand similarities and differences between small and large collision systems. In order to better understand the origin of strangeness enhancement in pp new multi-differential analyses have been performed. The first separates the contribution of soft and hard processes, such as jets, to strange hadron production through two-particle correlation techniques. The second exploits the concept of the effective energy available for particle production in the event, …
The ALICE experiment has studied strangeness production in different collision systems (pp, p-Pb, Xe-Xe and Pb-Pb) and energies. The ratio of the strange particle yield to pion yield as a function of multiplicity for different collision energies and systems follow a continuously increasing trend ("enhancement") from low multiplicity pp to high-multiplicity Pb-Pb collisions, independent of the initial collision energy and colliding particles. It is also observed that the enhancement is larger for the particles with larger strangeness content. Several other features that were observed in large c…
Studies of quarkonium production in heavy-ion collisions can be used for probing QGP properties. The suppression and regeneration of bound quarkonium states is sensitive to the medium properties. Modifications of the quarkonium polarization in Pb-Pb collisions with respect to pp collisions may give further insight into the suppression and regeneration mechanisms in the QGP. Quarkonia are also sensitive to the initial stages of heavy-ion collisions, and measurements in photonuclear collisions may help constrain the nuclear gluon-distribution at low Bjorken-$x$. In this work, recent quarkonium m…
Heavy-flavour hadrons, containing open or hidden charm and beauty flavours, are considered as hard probes of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), which is a hot and dense phase state of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) matter. Production of heavy flavours involves large momentum transfer processes during collisions. Heavy quarks are expected to be produced in the initial stage of collisions and therefore prior to the formation of the QGP in heavy-ion collisions. Consequently, heavy quarks travel through and interact with the QGP. Hence, measuring both open and hidden heavy-flavour production in large sys…
Hadronic resonances are unique tools to investigate the interplay of re-scattering and regeneration effects in the hadronic phase of heavy-ion collisions. As the $ϕ$ meson has a longer lifetime compared to other resonances, it is expected that its production will not be affected by regeneration and re-scattering processes. Measurements in small collision systems such as proton-proton (pp) collisions provide a necessary baseline for heavy-ion data and help to tune pQCD inspired event generators. Given that the $ϕ$ is a bound state of strange-antistrange quark pair (s$\bar{\rm{s}}$), measurement…
We present a new method for detection of multiply charmed baryons via their decays into strange baryons, using `strangeness tracking'. This method makes use of the state-of-the-art upgraded silicon detectors in ALICE during Runs 3, 4 and beyond will enable the novel possibility of tracking strange hadrons directly before they decay, leading to a very significant improvement in impact-parameter resolution. In this work, we will discuss how this new technique will be crucial to distinguish secondary strange baryons originating from charm decays from primary strange baryons. This is a particularl…
One of the key results of the LHC Run 1 was the observation of an enhanced production of strange particles in high multiplicity pp and p--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 7 and 5.02 TeV, respectively. The strangeness enhancement is investigated by measuring the evolution with multiplicity of single-strange and multi-strange baryon production relative to non-strange particles. A smooth increase of strange particle yields relative to the non-strange ones with event multiplicity has been observed in such systems. We report the latest results on multiplicity dependence of strange and mult…
In order to understand strangeness production mechanisms, one can study the correlations of hadrons with hidden strangeness (e.g. the $ϕ$ meson) and open strangeness ($\mathrm{K}^{0}_{\mathrm{S}}$, $Λ$ and $\barΛ$) in hard (jet) processes and in soft (bulk) processes. Two-particle angular correlations with $\mathrm{K}^{0}_{\mathrm{S}}$ triggers allow for the study of fragmentation in pp collisions as a function of multiplicity. Similarly, correlations with associated $ϕ$ mesons in p-Pb collisions allow both the jet and the underlying event components of strange particle production to be probed…
High-energy jets offer rich opportunities to study quantum chromodynamics, from investigating the limits of perturbative calculability to constraining the emergent properties of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). In these proceedings, we present new measurements of the fragmentation properties of jets. We report distributions of the sub-jet momentum fraction $z_r$ measured in pp and Pb-Pb collisions with ALICE at the Large Hadron Collider. These measurements serve as input to test the universality of jet fragmentation in the QGP, and offer a path to elucidate jet quenching effects in the large-$z$ …
One of the key methods used in the study of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) is femtoscopy, the technique of measuring short-range two-particle correlations as a function of relative momentum. Traditionally, femtoscopy has been utilized to measure the size of the QGP fireball created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. However, since it is sensitive to the correlations between the particles in the final state, it has been shown recently that the parameters of the strong interaction can be probed as well. This review includes a broad range of ALICE femtoscopy results, including both traditional a…
Heavy quarks are produced at the first instant of a nucleus--nucleus collision and therefore are an important tool to study the subsequent high energy-density medium formed in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. A series of experimental efforts for understanding the properties of the Quark--Gluon Plasma (QGP), a medium consisting of a deconfined state of quarks and gluons, are based on measuring the bound states of heavy quark--anti-quark pairs known as quarkonia. However, the medium modification of heavy-flavour hadron production includes also the contribution of Cold Nuclear Matter (CNM…
Charmonium production is highly sensitive to the hot and dense medium created in (ultra)-relativistic heavy-ion collisions, known as the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). Measurements of the J/$ψ$ production serve as important tools for studying the properties of this medium. In addition to QGP effects, the J/$ψ$ production is modified by the presence of cold nuclear matter (CNM) effects such as shadowing or parton energy loss. These effects are studied in proton-nucleus collisions where no QGP formation is expected. In order to quantify how the J/$ψ$ production is modified by the medium, the vacuum p…
ALICE is devoted to the study of the properties of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). This state of matter is created in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. Heavy quarks are considered effective probes of the QGP since, due to their large masses, they are produced in hard scattering processes and experience the full evolution of the hot and dense medium while interacting with its constituents. The heavy-quark measurements provide insights on processes like in-medium energy loss and hadronization. Measurements in proton-proton collisions provide the baseline for interpreting heavy-io…
ALICE is designated to study the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a state of matter where, due to high temperature and density, quarks and gluons are deconfined. One of the probes used to investigate this state of matter is quarkonium states, bound states of either a charm and anti-charm quark pair (charmonia) or a bottom and anti-bottom quark pair (bottomonia). The presence of the QGP is expected to modify the quarkonium production yields in a very specific way due to a balance between medium-induced suppression, and a recombination mechanism or a hadronization mechanism. To understand the the prope…
A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE) is one of the four big experiments installed at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and it is suited to study pp, p--Pb and Pb--Pb collisions. It aims to study the strongly interacting matter at extreme conditions of temperature and density under which the quarks decouple to form a new state of matter called the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP). Such a state of matter existed a few microseconds after the Big Bang in which the universe was created. Several experimental observables, sensitive to the evolution of the system after the nuclear collisions, reveal imp…
Heavy-flavour measurements give an important contribution to the understanding of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) produced in heavy-ion collisions. Heavy quarks are effective probes for the QGP and understanding their interaction with the medium can give insights into its transport properties. The ALICE Collaboration investigates heavy-flavour production by measuring leptons from heavy-flavour decays and by reconstructing hadronic decays of D mesons and charmed baryons. In this proceeding, recent results from ALICE as well as the direction of future heavy-flavour measurements are discussed.
The main goal of the ALICE experiment is to study the physics of strongly interacting matter, focusing on the properties of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). The relative production of strange hadrons with respect to non-strange hadrons in heavy-ion collisions was historically considered as one of the signatures of QGP formation. However, the latest results in proton-proton (pp) and proton-lead (p-Pb) collisions have revealed an increasing trend in the yield ratio of strange hadrons to pions with the charged-particle multiplicity in the event, showing a smooth evolution across different collision …
In this contribution, the nuclear modification factor and azimuthal anisotropy of prompt charm mesons and baryons in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=5.02$ TeV by the ALICE Collaboration are presented. Heavy quarks are a very suitable probe to investigate the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) produced in heavy-ion collisions, since they are mainly produced in hard-scattering processes and hence in shorter timescales compared to the QGP. Measurements of charm-hadron production in nucleus-nucleus collisions are therefore useful to study the properties of the in-medium charm-quark energy loss via…
Measurement of the multiplicity dependence of charm production in proton--proton collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 TeV with the ALICE experiment at the CERN-LHC
Heavy quarks are produced in the early stages of nucleus-nucleus collisions and can therefore provide important insight into the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). Quarkonia are proposed as crucial probes to study the QGP. The extent of the medium modification for heavy-quark quarkonium production in heavy-ion collisions is measured in terms of a nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm AA}$, defined as the quarkonium yield in heavy-ion collisions divided by the relative quarkonium cross section in pp collisions scaled by the nuclear overlap function. A possible path-length dependent quarkonium dissociation…
Event-by-event fluctuations of conserved charges - such as electric charge, strangeness, and baryon number - in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions provide insight into the properties of the quark-gluon plasma and the QCD phase diagram. They can be related to the higher moments of the multiplicity distributions of identified particles, such as the $Λ$ baryon which carries both strangeness and baryon number and is thus of particular interest. We present the first measurement of net-$Λ$ fluctuations in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} = 5.02$ TeV as a function of centrality and the…
Hard probes - final state particles related to an interaction with large momentum transfer or mass scale - play a distinguished role in the discovery and the study of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), a phase of deconfined quarks and gluons reached at high temperatures in heavy ion collisions. In heavy ion collisions, parton scatterings with a large momentum transfer ($1/Q \ll 1$ fm/$c$) occur prior to QGP formation and thus provide a source of coloured probe particles for the QGP created in the later stage of the reaction. The hard scattered partons and the subsequent parton shower interact stron…
