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ALICE is the heavy-ion experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The experiment continuously took data during the first physics campaign of the machine from fall 2009 until early 2013, using proton and lead-ion beams. In this paper we describe the running environment and the data handling procedures, and discuss the performance of the ALICE detectors and analysis methods for various physics observables.

The production of π + , π − , K + , K − , p, and p at mid-rapidity has been measured in proton-proton collisions at √ s = 900 GeV with the ALICE detector. Particle identification is performed using the specific energy loss in the inner tracking silicon detector and the time projection chamber. In addition, time-of-flight information is used to identify hadrons at higher momenta. Finally, the distinctive kink topology of the weak decay of charged kaons is used for an alternative measurement of the kaon transverse momentum (p t ) spectra. Since these various particle identification tools give the best separation capabilities over different momentum ranges, the results are combined to extract spectra from p t = 100 MeV/c to 2.5 GeV/c. The measured spectra are further compared with QCD-inspired models which yield a poor description. The total yields and the mean p t are compared with previous measurements, and the trends as a function of collision energy are discussed.t Deceased.

Results are presented from a search for the rare decays Bs(0)→μ+ μ- and B(0)→μ+ μ- in pp collisions at sqrt[s]=7 and 8 TeV, with data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of 5 and 20  fb(-1), respectively, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. An unbinned maximum-likelihood fit to the dimuon invariant mass distribution gives a branching fraction B(Bs(0)→μ+ μ-)=(3.0(-0.9)(+1.0))×10(-9), where the uncertainty includes both statistical and systematic contributions. An excess of Bs(0)→μ+ μ- events with respect to background is observed with a significance of 4.3 standard deviations. For the decay B(0)→μ+ μ- an upper limit of B(B(0)→μ+ μ-)<1.1×10(-9) at the 95% confidence level is determined. Both results are in agreement with the expectations from the standard model.

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Study of the underlying event at forward rapidity in pp collisions at √ s = 0.9, 2.76, and 7 TeVThe CMS collaboration E-mail: cms-publication-committee-chair@cern.chAbstract: The underlying event activity in proton-proton collisions at forward pseudorapidity (−6.6 < η < −5.2) is studied with the CMS detector at the LHC, using a novel observable: the ratio of the forward energy density, dE/dη, for events with a chargedparticle jet produced at central pseudorapidity (|η jet | < 2) to the forward energy density for inclusive events. This forward energy density ratio is measured as a function of the central jet transverse momentum, p T , at three different pp centre-of-mass energies ( √ s = 0.9, 2.76, and 7 TeV). In addition, the √ s evolution of the forward energy density is studied in inclusive events and in events with a central jet. The results are compared to those of Monte Carlo event generators for pp collisions and are discussed in terms of the underlying event. Whereas the dependence of the forward energy density ratio on jet p T at each √ s separately can be well reproduced by some models, all models fail to simultaneously describe the increase of the forward energy density with √ s in both inclusive events and in events with a central jet.

We report on the measurement of two-pion correlation functions from pp collisions at ffiffi ffi s p ¼ 900 GeV performed by the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Our analysis shows an increase of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss radius with increasing event multiplicity, in line with other measurements done in particle-and nuclear collisions. Conversely, the strong decrease of the radius with increasing transverse momentum, as observed at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and at Tevatron, is not manifest in our data.

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