Abstract
The ALICE experiment was proposed in 1993, to study strongly-interacting matter at extreme energy densities and temperatures. This proposal entailed a comprehensive investigation of nuclear collisions at the LHC. Its physics programme initially focused on the determination of the properties of the quark–gluon plasma (QGP), a deconfined state of quarks and gluons, created in such collisions. The ALICE physics programme has been extended to cover a broader ensemble of observables related to Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of strong interactions. The experiment has studied Pb–Pb, Xe–Xe, p–Pb and pp collisions in the multi-TeV centre of mass energy range, during the Run 1–2 data-taking periods at the LHC (2009–2018). The aim of this review is to summarise the key ALICE physics results in this endeavor, and to discuss their implications on the current understanding of the macroscopic and microscopic properties of strongly-interacting matter at the highest temperatures reached in the laboratory. It will review the latest findings on the properties of the QGP created by heavy-ion collisions at LHC energies, and describe the surprising QGP-like effects in pp and p–Pb collisions. Measurements of few-body QCD interactions, and their impact in unraveling the structure of hadrons and hadronic interactions, will be discussed. ALICE results relevant for physics topics outside the realm of QCD will also be touched upon. Finally, prospects for future measurements with the ALICE detector in the context of its planned upgrades will also be briefly described.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 813 |
Journal | European Physical Journal C |
Volume | 84 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2024 |
Funding
The ALICE Collaboration would like to thank all its engineers and technicians for their invaluable contributions to the construction of the experiment and the CERN accelerator teams for the outstanding performance of the LHC complex. The ALICE Collaboration gratefully acknowledges the resources and support provided by all Grid centres and the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) collaboration. The ALICE Collaboration acknowledges the following funding agencies for their support in building and running the ALICE detector: A. I. Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory (Yerevan Physics Institute) Foundation (ANSL), State Committee of Science and World Federation of Scientists (WFS), Armenia; Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austrian Science Fund (FWF): [M 2467-N36] and Nationalstiftung f\u00FCr Forschung, Technologie und Entwicklung, Austria; Ministry of Communications and High Technologies, National Nuclear Research Center, Azerbaijan; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient\u00EDfico e Tecnol\u00F3gico (CNPq), Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (Finep), Funda\u00E7\u00E3o de Amparo \u00E0 Pesquisa do Estado de S\u00E3o Paulo (FAPESP) and Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil; Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science, within the National Roadmap for Research Infrastructures 2020-2027 (object CERN), Bulgaria; Ministry of Education of China (MOEC) , Ministry of Science & Technology of China (MSTC) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), China; Ministry of Science and Education and Croatian Science Foundation, Croatia; Centro de Aplicaciones Tecnol\u00F3gicas y Desarrollo Nuclear (CEADEN), Cubaenerg\u00EDa, Cuba; Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic; The Danish Council for Independent Research | Natural Sciences, the VILLUM FONDEN and Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF), Denmark; Helsinki Institute of Physics (HIP), Finland; Commissariat \u00E0 l\u2019Energie Atomique (CEA) and Institut National de Physique Nucl\u00E9aire et de Physique des Particules (IN2P3) and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France; Bundesministerium f\u00FCr Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) and GSI Helmholtzzentrum f\u00FCr Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Germany; General Secretariat for Research and Technology, Ministry of Education, Research and Religions, Greece; National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Hungary; Department of Atomic Energy Government of India (DAE), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India (DST), University Grants Commission, Government of India (UGC) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India; National Research and Innovation Agency - BRIN, Indonesia; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Italy; Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI, Japan; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia (CONACYT) y Tecnolog\u00EDa, through Fondo de Cooperaci\u00F3n Internacional en Ciencia y Tecnolog\u00EDa (FONCICYT) and Direcci\u00F3n General de Asuntos del Personal Academico (DGAPA), Mexico; Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), Netherlands; The Research Council of Norway, Norway; Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS), Pakistan; Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00F3lica del Per\u00FA, Peru; Ministry of Education and Science, National Science Centre and WUT ID-UB, Poland; Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), Republic of Korea; Ministry of Education and Scientific Research, Institute of Atomic Physics, Ministry of Research and Innovation and Institute of Atomic Physics and Universitatea Nationala de Stiinta si Tehnologie Politehnica Bucuresti, Romania; Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, Slovakia; National Research Foundation of South Africa, South Africa; Swedish Research Council (VR) and Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW), Sweden; European Organization for Nuclear Research, Switzerland; Suranaree University of Technology (SUT), National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and National Science, Research and Innovation Fund (NSRF via PMU-B B05F650021), Thailand; Turkish Energy, Nuclear and Mineral Research Agency (TENMAK), Turkey; National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ukraine; Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), United Kingdom; National Science Foundation of the United States of America (NSF) and United States Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Physics (DOE NP), United States of America. In addition, individual groups or members have received support from: Marie Sk\u0142odowska Curie, European Research Council, Strong 2020 - Horizon 2020 (grant nos. 950692, 824093, 896850), European Union; Academy of Finland (Center of Excellence in Quark Matter) (grant nos. 346327, 346328), Finland; Programa de Apoyos para la Superaci\u00F3n del Personal Acad\u00E9mico, UNAM, Mexico.
Funders | Funder number |
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Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India | |
State Committee of Science and World Federation | |
Ministry of Communications and High Technologies | |
Ministry of Education and Science | |
Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India | |
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine | |
National Science and Technology Development Agency | |
National Research Foundation of Korea | |
Villum Fonden | |
National Science, Research and Innovation Fund | |
Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China | |
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México | |
Narodowe Centrum Nauki | |
University Grants Commission | |
Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules | |
Science and Technology Facilities Council | |
Institute of Atomic Physics and Universitatea Nationala de Stiinta si Tehnologie Politehnica Bucuresti | |
General Secretariat for Research and Technology, Ministry of Education, Research and Religions | |
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science | |
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek | |
Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information | |
Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse | |
Ministry of Science and Education and Croatian Science Foundation | |
Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare | |
Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos | |
Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation | |
Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India | |
Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías | |
Norges Forskningsråd | |
Yerevan Physics Institute | |
Natur og Univers, Det Frie Forskningsråd | |
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique | |
Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México | |
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung | |
Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives | |
Danmarks Grundforskningsfond | |
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico | |
Suranaree University of Technology | |
Centro de Aplicaciones Tecnológicas y Desarrollo Nuclear | |
Türkiye Enerji, Nükleer ve Maden Araştırma Kurumu | |
Nemzeti Kutatási Fejlesztési és Innovációs Hivatal | |
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research | |
European Commission | |
GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung | |
U.S. Department of Energy | |
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo | |
National Nuclear Research Center | |
WUT ID-UB | |
Institutul de Fizică Atomică | |
Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China | |
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic | |
Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport | |
Helsinki Institute of Physics | |
Fondo de Cooperación Internacional en Ciencia y Tecnología | |
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul | |
Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften | |
University Grants Commission, Government of India | |
European Research Council | |
National Research Foundation | |
Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional | |
CERN | |
Nuclear Physics | |
Vetenskapsrådet | |
Österreichische Nationalstiftung für Forschung, Technologie und Entwicklung | |
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology | |
National Natural Science Foundation of China | |
NSRF | B05F650021 |
Horizon 2020 | 896850, 824093, 950692 |
Research Council of Finland | 346328, 346327 |
Austrian Science Fund | M 2467-N36 |