The ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC
ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is a general-purpose, heavy-ion detector at the CERN LHC which focuses on QCD, the strong-interaction sector of the Standard Model. It is designed to address the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark-gluon plasma at extreme values of energy density and temperature in nucleus-nucleus collisions. Besides running with Pb ions, the physics programme includes collisions with lighter ions, lower energy running and dedicated proton-nucleus runs. ALICE will also take data with proton beams at the top LHC energy to collect reference data for the heavy-ion programme and to address several QCD topics for which ALICE is complementary to the other LHC detectors. The ALICE detector has been built by a collaboration including currently over 1000 physicists and engineers from 105 Institutes in 30 countries. Its overall dimensions are 161626 m3 with a total weight of approximately 10 000 t. The experiment consists of 18 different detector systems each with its own specific technology choice and design constraints, driven both by the physics requirements and the experimental conditions expected at LHC. The most stringent design constraint is to cope with the extreme particle multiplicity anticipated in central Pb-Pb collisions. The different subsystems were optimized to provide high-momentum resolution as well as excellent Particle Identification (PID) over a broad range in momentum, up to the highest multiplicities predicted for LHC. This will allow for comprehensive studies of hadrons, electrons, muons, and photons produced in the collision of heavy nuclei. Most detector systems are scheduled to be installed and ready for data taking by mid-2008 when the LHC is scheduled to start operation, with the exception of parts of the Photon Spectrometer (PHOS), Transition Radiation Detector (TRD) and Electro Magnetic Calorimeter (EMCal). These detectors will be completed for the high-luminosity ion run expected in 2010. This paper describes in detail the detector components as installed for the first data taking in the summer of 2008.

title: Centrality Dependence of Charged Particle Production at Large Transverse Momentum in Pb--Pb Collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} = 2.76$ TeV
abstract: The inclusive transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) distributions of primary charged particles are measured in the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ as a function of event centrality in Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The data are presented in the $p_{\rm T}$ range $0.1530$ GeV/$c$. In peripheral collisions (70--80%), the suppression is weaker with $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx 0.7$ almost independently of $p_{\rm T}$. The measured nuclear modification factors are compared to other measurements and model calculations.

title: Position Space CMB Anomalies from Multi-Stream Inflation
abstract: Temporary domain walls are produced during the bifurcation era of multi-stream inflation. The observational effects from such a domain wall to spectator field perturbations are calculated, and we expect the inflationary perturbations share similarities with the case of spectator field. A domain wall induces a preferred direction in the sky, affecting the angular distribution of perturbations. A correlated suppression of multipoles together with an alignment of multipole moments on the preferred direction are generated. Other observational aspects of multi-stream inflation, including hemispherical asymmetry and cold spot are also briefly reviewed.

title: Cosmological constraints on the generalized holographic dark energy
abstract: We use the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to investigate global constraints on the generalized holographic (GH) dark energy with flat and non-flat universe from the current observed data: the Union2 dataset of type supernovae Ia (SNIa), high-redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), the observational Hubble data (OHD), the cluster X-ray gas mass fraction, the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO), and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data. The most stringent constraints on the GH model parameter are obtained. In addition, it is found that the equation of state for this generalized holographic dark energy can cross over the phantom boundary wde=−1.

title: Collective Flow of Lambda Hyperons within Covariant Kaon Dynamics

title: Study of a prototype water Cherenkov detector for the Daya Bay neutrino experiment
abstract: The Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment is designed to precisely measure the neutrino mixing angle theta(13). The anti-neutrino detectors are shielded by highly purified water against radioactivity and spallation neutrons from surrounding rocks. The water also serves as a Cherenkov detector to tag cosmic-ray muons, which induce main backgrounds. In order to study water purification and details of the detector response, a prototype water Cherenkov detector is constructed at the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP), Beijing. The detector is divided by Tyvek into two sections and viewed by two 8 in. photomultipliers. Cosmic-ray muons are used for detector response studies and a Monte Carlo simulation based on the Geant4 package shows good agreement with the experimental data.

title: KamLAND: A Liquid scintillator anti-neutrino detector at the Kamioka site
abstract: We present the initial design of a very large kton liquid scintillator detector to be installed in the underground cavity where Kamiokande used to be The ex periment is optimized to detect low energy anti neutrinos and it will perform unique measurements in the elds of neutrino physics geophysics and astrophysics One of the initial goals will be to perform a very long baseline oscillation experiment using a large number of nuclear reactors Such an experiment will be sensitive to neutrino masses as low as m eV attacking for the rst time with a laboratory measurement some of the possible solutions to the solar neutrino anomaly This can be considered the ultimate neutrino mass test using the oscillation technique The observation of neutrinos from the Earth supernovae atmosphere and nucleon decay will also be part of a very rich initial program while in a later stage the ob servation of solar neutrinos and other channels requiring ultra low background will become the main focus KamLAND is conceived as a scalable detector that will be able to start in a very short time to deliver results on a number of essential physics issues that only require present day technology This rst running period will also establish backgrounds and detector requirements for a second ultra low background running phase