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.

This paper presents a new version of the Entall database of the thermodynamic properties of metals and their alloys. The changes are related to the thermodynamic data of new binary and ternary systems as well as the integration of the database with an application for the modeling of the formation enthalpies of intermetallic phases with the use of the Miedema model. Using this tool, calculations of the enthalpies of formation of 38 intermetallic phases from 12 binary systems were performed and a comparative analysis conducted. The results of the analysis clearly showed a weak correlation between the model and experimental data. To improve this correlation, an intermediate method of proportional change was proposed, on the basis of the measurement of the enthalpy of formation for one of the phases. The values for the other phases obtained from this indirect method should not deviate much from the experimental ones provided that before the measurements (dissolving or pulping) or after them (direct synthesis), the phase being examined should undergo structural tests, in order to confirm its dominating amount in the samples.

A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE) has been conceived and constructed as a heavy-ion experiment at the LHC. During LHC Runs 1 and 2, it has produced a wide range of physics results using all collision systems available at the LHC. In order to best exploit new physics opportunities opening up with the upgraded LHC and new detector technologies, the experiment has undergone a major upgrade during the LHC Long Shutdown 2 (2019–2022). This comprises the move to continuous readout, the complete overhaul of core detectors, as well as a new online event processing farm with a redesigned online-offline software framework. These improvements will allow to record Pb-Pb collisions at rates up to 50 kHz, while ensuring sensitivity for signals without a triggerable signature.

The most precise measurements to date of the ${}_{\mathrm{\Lambda }}{}^3\mathrm{H}$ lifetime $\tau$ and $\mathrm{\Lambda }$ separation energy ${\mathrm{B}}_{\mathrm{\Lambda }}$ are obtained using the data sample of Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02\mathrm{TeV}$ collected by ALICE at the LHC. The ${}_{\mathrm{\Lambda }}{}^3\mathrm{H}$ is reconstructed via its charged two-body mesonic decay channel (${}_{\mathrm{\Lambda }}{}^3\mathrm{H}\to {}^3\mathrm{He}+{\pi }^{-}$ and the charge-conjugate process). The measured values $\tau =[253\pm 11(\mathrm{stat})\pm 6(\mathrm{syst})]\mathrm{ps}$ and ${\mathrm{B}}_{\mathrm{\Lambda }}=[102\pm 63(\mathrm{stat})\pm 67(\mathrm{syst})]\mathrm{keV}$ are compatible with predictions from effective field theories and confirm that the ${}_{\mathrm{\Lambda }}{}^3\mathrm{H}$ structure is consistent with a weakly bound system.

The production of prompt ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}$ baryons has been measured at midrapidity in the transverse momentum interval $0<p_T<1 \text{GeV}/c$ for the first time, in $pp$ and $p$–Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon collision $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02\text{TeV}$. The measurement was performed in the decay channel ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}\to p{K}_S^0$ by applying new decay reconstruction techniques using a Kalman-Filter vertexing algorithm and adopting a machine-learning approach for the candidate selection. The $p_T$-integrated ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}$ production cross sections in both collision systems were determined and used along with the measured yields in Pb–Pb collisions to compute the $p_T$-integrated nuclear modification factors $R_{p\mathrm{Pb}}$ and $R_{AA}$ of ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}$ baryons, which are compared to model calculations that consider nuclear modification of the parton distribution functions. The ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}/D^0$ baryon-to-meson yield ratio is reported for $pp$ and $p$–Pb collisions. Comparisons with models that include modified hadronization processes are presented, and the implications of the results on the understanding of charm hadronization in hadronic collisions are discussed. A significant ($3.7\sigma$) modification of the mean transverse momentum of ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}$ baryons is seen in $p$–Pb collisions with respect to $pp$ collisions, while the $p_T$-integrated ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}/D^0$ yield ratio was found to be consistent between the two collision systems within the uncertainties.