ALICE status and highlights

TL;DR

The ALICE experiment at the LHC has successfully started data collection with proton collisions, providing initial performance metrics and early results at various energies after nearly two decades of development.

Contribution

This paper reports on the initial operation, performance, and early findings of the ALICE experiment at the LHC following its first proton collision data collection.

Findings

Successful initial operation of ALICE at the LHC

First results obtained at 900 GeV and 7 TeV collision energies

Performance metrics established for future heavy ion studies

Abstract

After close to 20 years of preparation, the dedicated heavy ion experiment ALICE took first data with proton collisions at the LHC starting in November 2009. This article summarizes initial operation and performance of ALICE at the LHC as well as first results from collisions at 900 GeV and 7 TeV.