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ALICE Projects

Heavy-Ion Physics with ALICE

The ALICE experiment, one of the largest in the world, investigates the fundamental nature of matter at incredibly small scales using CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This global collaboration of over 1,900 scientists from 39 countries, including South Africa since 2003, seeks to answer key questions such as what happens to matter when heated to extreme temperatures and why protons and neutrons weigh more than their quarks. South Africa’s contributions focus on studying the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) and upgrading detector technologies.

What happens to matter when it is heated to 100,000 times the temperature at the centre of the Sun ?
Why do protons and neutrons weigh 100 times more than the quarks they are made of ?
Can the quarks inside the protons and neutrons be freed ?
Principal Investigators

As part of the global ALICE Collaboration, South African researchers are at the forefront of exploring the QGP, a state of matter believed to have existed shortly after the Big Bang. South African teams are contributing to key areas such as studying the behavior of heavy quarks within the QGP and measuring its temperature using thermal photons. Additionally, they are involved in upgrading advanced detector systems, including the muon spectrometer and transition radiation detector, showcasing South Africa’s vital role in pushing the boundaries of particle physics at CERN.

Research Projects
Technical Projects

Research Projects

SA-ALICE | Project | 2025
Msc
PhD
ALICE Principal Investigators
Utilization of machine learning techniques in ALICE Run 3 data analysis for heavy-flavour hadron production at the LHC

ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is one of the 4 major experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. It is a dedicated heavy-ion detector designed to study the physics of the strongly interacting primordial state of matter known as the quark-gluon plasma at the highest energy densities reached in the laboratory so far. The QGP is studied using heavy-ion collisions (A-A) at ultra-relativistic energies provided by the LHC. ALICE studies the QGP through a comprehensive study of particles (hadrons, leptons, photons, etc.) produced in these collisions. In the LHC Run 3, ALICE has already collected a substantial amount of data both in proton-proton (pp) and in lead-lead (Pb-Pb) collisions at √s=13.6 TeV and 5.36 TeV, respectively. This provides a good platform for identifying key physics measurements to further our understanding of the hot and dense QGP created in Pb-Pb collisions and to test perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics (pQCD) based models.

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SA-ALICE | Project | 2025
Msc
PhD
ALICE Principal Investigators
Heavy quark vs multiplicity in small systems in ALICE at LHC energies

Multiplicity-dependent studies in high multiplicity pp and p-A collisions in LHC Run 2 show remarkable similarities with AA collisions in the strangeness enhancement in the light-flavor sector and collectivity (ridge formation, elliptic flow). Recent studies show that the results from heavy quark vs charged-particle multiplicity in pp at 8 and 13 TeV compared to EPOS and PYTHIA 8 calculations (using default tunes) in the leptonic decay channel underestimate the linear increase observed at high multiplicity. Similar measurements are ongoing in pp and p-Pb collisions at √s = 5 and 13 TeV and √sNN = 8.16 TeV in ALICE, respectively. Significantly, pp measurements at √s = 5 TeV provide a reference for Pb-Pb and p-Pb collisions at the same √s.

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SA-ALICE | Project | 2025
Msc
PhD
ALICE Principal Investigators
Vector boson production in heavy-ion collisions with ALICE in LHC Run 3

The objective of this project is to investigate the production of vector bosons (W±). Due to the weak coupling of vector bosons, their production is not sensitive to the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) hot nuclear matter effects. Therefore, in heavy-ion collisions (A-A) W bosons provide a good reference for the medium-induced effects on other probes, e.g. hadrons containing heavy quarks. The production mechanism of W is dependent on the isospin. For this reason, W bosons are affected by the initial-state effects such as isospin, Fermi motion, EMC effect, shadowing, and nuclear absorption. In A-A and p-A collisions, W boson production can be used to test some of these initial-state effects. Furthermore, W bosons can be used to provide a non-arbitrary reference to QGP probes. Traditionally, in A-A collisions, hard processes are expected to scale with the number of binary collisions thus a precise study of W bosons can be used to test the factorization assumed in models used to determine centrality. This unique property of W bosons makes them essential probes to study the possible inherent bias in centrality determination, while in proton-proton (pp) collisions, their production can be used to obtain information on the quark Parton distribution functions (PDF).

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SA-ALICE | Project | 2025
Msc
PhD
ALICE Principal Investigators
e-μ Correlation studies in pp and Pb-Pb collisions in ALICE using LHC Run 3 data

In Run 1 (2009-2013) and 2 (2015-2018), ALICE collected more than 10 petabytes of raw data and quickly expanded the knowledge gathered in previous experiments by identifying key physics measurements to further our understanding of the hot and dense QGP created in A-A collisions. ALICE is the leading heavy-ion experiment in the world. This has been facilitated by the increased luminosity (interactions rates per unit cross-section) of the LHC to unprecedented peak luminosities of ~1027cm-2s-1. One such key observable is the production of heavy-flavour hadrons i.e. hadrons containing heavy quarks produced in the collision via initial hard scattering processes. The characteristic flavour of heavy quarks is conserved throughout the evolution of the medium formed in A-A collisions. Their measurement illuminates in- medium energy loss mechanisms, propagation and hadronization, making heavy quarks (or heavy flavours) excellent probes of the QGP. Therefore, it is crucial to understand their interaction and their evolution in the underlying medium. More experimental data on heavy-flavour decay is necessary to improve the available theoretical models.

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SA-ALICE | Project | 2025
Msc
PhD
ALICE Principal Investigators
Double parton scattering and W boson plus correlated W and quarkonium associated production: a feasibility study in ALICE Run 3

This project aims to investigate the feasibility of studying double parton scattering and vector boson and another vector boson and quarkonium-associated production in ALICE during Run 3. A wide range of measurements of various quarkonium species production have been studied in ALICE for over a decade. This is due to the high production rates achieved at the LHC allowing not just a study of inclusive quarkonium production, but also testing more exclusive final states. One such observable is the associated vector boson plus quarkonium. According to correlated W-boson and quarkonia production, it offers a clean test of the colour-octet mechanisms. The first experimental searches were conducted at the CDF using the W+ψ channel. The ATLAS collaboration has studied vector-boson scattering using a wide range of channels (and references therein). A couple of interesting studies are W+W and W+J/ψ. These channels are accessible with the ALICE Run 3 detector and beyond. W bosons and J/ψ have been studied extensively in ALICE. The advantage of studying double parton scattering in ALICE is centred around ALICE’s capabilities, such as measuring all particle species to low transverse momentum (pT) close to zero i.e. pT < 0.1 GeV/c. The ALICE detector geometry is a huge advantage because it includes the central barrel (|η| < 1) and forward muon spectrometer (-4 < η < -2.5) enabling access to small Bjorken-x measurements. Therefore, measurements in ALICE provide a cross-check and complement measurements from other experiments such as ATLAS at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

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Technical Projects

SA-ALICE | Project | 2025
Msc
PhD
ALICE Principal Investigators
Programming the latest FPGA: towards the ALICE 3 readout feasibility study

The project entails processing data from an arbitrary source and applying a moving average filter with multiple taps. The implementation will be done using HDL, and it must be demonstrated that the solution can work on any Xilinx FPGA. The following points must be addressed in the project for the FPGA:

  • What is the highest data speed it can handle?
  • How to validate the design? Think about and develop a test procedure as well.

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SA-ALICE | Project | 2025
Msc
PhD
ALICE Principal Investigators
Testbench development for an LGAD/CMOS detector sensor for time resolution studies

Themba LABS and South African universities involved in the upgrades of the ALICE detector at CERN’s (European Organization for Nuclear Research) Large Hadron Collider (LHC) offer exciting technology-advanced projects to prospective Master’s students. An ideal candidate can select any of the following projects:

  • Development of a testbench to investigate the time resolution of a Low Gain Avalanche Detector (LGAD) sensor
  • Validate the monolithic Complementary Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor (CMOS) sensor technology
  • Design and setup a readout test bench for the CMOS/LGAD sensor utilizing the Aria 10 FPGA
Learn more >
References
  1. [1] ALICE Collaboration, et al. (2008). The ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC. Journal of Instrumentation, 3(S08002). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/3/08/S08002.
  2. [2] ALICE Collaboration. (2021). Measurement of beauty and charm production in pp collisions at √s=5.02 TeV via non-prompt and prompt D mesons. Journal of High Energy Physics, 05, 220. https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2021)220.
  3. [3] ALICE Collaboration. (2019). Production of muons from heavy-flavour hadron decays in pp collisions at √s=5.02 TeV. Journal of High Energy Physics, 09, 008. https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP09(2019)008.
  4. [4] ALICE Collaboration. (2023). Inclusive quarkonium production in pp collisions at √s=5.02 TeV. European Physical Journal C, 83(61).
  5. [5] Barger, V., Fleming, S., & Phillips, R. J. (1996). Double gluon fragmentation to J/ψ pairs at the Tevatron. Physics Letters B, 371(1), 111-116.
  6. [6] Acosta, D., et al. (CDF Collaboration). (2003). Search for Associated Production of Υ and Vector Boson in pp̅ Collisions at √s=1.8 TeV. Physical Review Letters, 90(22), 221803.
  7. [7] ATLAS Collaboration. (2024). Unraveling nature’s secrets: Vector boson scattering at the LHC. ATLAS Collaboration. https://atlas.cern/updates/feature/vector-boson-scattering.
  8. [8] ATLAS Collaboration. (2014). Measurement of the production cross section of prompt J/ψ mesons in association with a W± boson in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Journal of High Energy Physics, 1404, 172. https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP04(2014)172.
  9. [9] ALICE Collaboration. (2024). ALICE upgrades during the LHC Long Shutdown 2. Journal of Instrumentation, 19(P05062). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/19/05/P05062.
  10. [10] ALICE Collaboration. (2022). W± -boson production in p−Pb collisions at √sNN=8.16 TeV and PbPb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV. Journal of High Energy Physics, 05, 036.
  11. [11] ALICE Collaboration. (2017). W and Z boson production in p-Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV. Journal of High Energy Physics, 02, 077.
  12. [12] Moffat, N., et al. (2018). Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor developments for the ALICE ITS upgrade. Journal of Instrumentation, 13(C03014). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/13/03/C03014.
  13. [13] Strum, A., et al. (2014). Fundamentals and Applications of CMOS and CCD Sensors. In High Performance Silicon Imaging (pp. 348-372). https://doi.org/10.1533/9780857097521.2.348.
  14. [14] Intel Corporation. (n.d.). Intel Arria 10 GX FPGA Development Kit. Retrieved from https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/fpga/development-kits/arria/10-gx.html.
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