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.

Operation results are presented of a UV-sensitive gaseous photomultiplier (GPM) coupled through a MgF 2 window to a liquid-xenon scintillator. It consisted of a reflective CsI photocathode deposited on top of a THick Gaseous Electron Multiplier (THGEM); further multiplication stages were either a second THGEM or a Parallel Ionization Multiplier (PIM) followed by a MICROMEsh GAseous Structure (MICROMEGAS). The GPM operated in gasflow mode with non-condensable gas mixtures. Gains of 10 4 were measured with a CsI-coated double-THGEM detector in Ne/CH 4 (95:5), Ne/CF 4 (95:5) and Ne/CH 4 /CF 4 (90:5:5), with soft X-rays at 173 K. Scintillation signals induced by alpha particles in liquid xenon were measured here for the first time with a double-THGEM GPM in He/CH 4 (92.5:7.5) and a triple-structure THGEM/PIM/MICROMEGAS GPM in Ne/CH 4 (90:10) with a fast-current preamplifier.

Gaseous PhotoMultipliers (GPM) are a very promising alternative of vacuum PMTs especially for large-size noble-liquid detectors in the field of Functional Nuclear Medical Imaging and Direct Dark Matter Detection. We present recent characterization results of a Hybrid-GPM made of three Micropattern Gaseous Structures; a Thick Gaseous Electron Multiplier (THGEM), a Parallel Ionization Multiplier (PIM) and a MICROMesh GAseous Structure (MICROMEGAS), operating in Ne/CF 4 (90:10). Gain values close to 10 7 were recorded in this mixture, with 5.9keV x-rays at 1100 mbar, both at room temperature and at that of liquid xenon (T = 171K). The results are discussed in term of scintillation detection. While the present multiplier was investigated without photocathode, complementary results of photoextraction from CsI UVphotocathodes are presented in Ne/CH 4 (95:5) and CH 4 in cryogenic conditions.