Three- and four-body final states with strange particles are studied in π + p and π − p interactions at 16 GeV/ c . We present cross sections and investigate their energy dependence. Production mechanism, resonance production and quantum number transfer are discussed. Strong Y ∗ (1385) production is found in the reaction π + p → Λ K + π + , while the corresponding π − p reaction is dominated by production of K ∗ (890). In the NK K π channels, the K and K are produced mainly at the same vertex, i.e. non-strangeness exchange ΔS = 0 is dominant (about 75% of the cases), whereas in the Λ K ππ channels, the Λ and K are more frequently produced at opposite vertices, i.e. | ΔS | = 1 exchange is important (about 60% of the cases). Results on the polarization of the lambdas produced in the π + p reactions are given.

Inclusive ϕ meson production has been measured for 100 GeV/c and 200 GeV/c incident π−,\(\bar p\) andK−, and for 120 GeV/c and 200 GeV/c incident π+,p andK+, using a Be target. A total of 630,000 ϕ mesons has been recorded in the kinematic range 0<xF<0.4. Presented are the differential cross sectionsdσ/dxF anddσ/dpT2. The longitudinal momentum distributions show that the strange valence quarks of the incidentK mesons play an important role in ϕ meson production, even at smallxF. The decay angular distribution of the ϕ meson is evaluated in the Gottfried-Jackson frame and is expressed in the elements of the density matrix. There is a small but significant cos2θGJ dependence for smallpT, which decreases for increasingpT.

Inclusive branching ratios involving b to tau transitions are measured in approximately four million hadronic Z decays collected by the ALEPH detector at LEP. The fully-inclusive branching ratio b -> tau nu X and the semi-inclusive branching ratio b -> tau nu D*+/- X are measured to be (2.43 +/- 0.20 +/- 0.25)% and (0.88 +/- 0.31 +/- 0.28)%, in agreement with the standard model predictions. Upper limits on the branching fractions b -> tau nu and b -> s nu nubar are set to 8.3 10**-4 and 6.4 10**-4 at the 90% C.L. These results allow a 90% C.L. lower limit of 0.40 (GeV/c**2)**-1 to be set on the tan(beta)/mH+/- ratio, in the framework of type-II two-Higgs-doublet mode

The polarization of Λ baryons from Z decays is studied with the Aleph apparatus. Evidence of longitudinal polarization of s quarks from Z decay is observed for the first time. The measured longitudinal Λ polarization is P L Λ = −0.32 ± 0.07 for z = p p beam > 0.3 . This agrees with the prediction of −0.39 ± 0.08 from the standard model and the constituent quark model, where the error is due to uncertainties in the mechanism for Λ production. The observed Λ polarization is diluted with respect to the primary s quark polarization by Λ baryons without a primary s quark. Measurements of the Λ forward-backward asymmetry and of the correlation between back-to-back Λ Λ pairs are used to check this dilution. In addition the transverse Λ polarization is measured. An indication of transverse polarization, more than two standard deviations away from zero, is found along the normal to the plane defined by the thrust axis and the Λ direction.

The $p_{\rm T}$-differential inclusive production cross section of the prompt charm-strange meson $\rm D_s^+$ in the rapidity range $|y|<0.5$ was measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV at the LHC using the ALICE detector. The analysis was performed on a data sample of $2.98 \times 10^8$ events collected with a minimum-bias trigger. The corresponding integrated luminosity is $L_{\rm int}=4.8$/nb. Reconstructing the decay ${\rm D_s^{+}\to \phi\pi^+}$, with $\phi\to {\rm K}^-{\rm K}^+$, and its charge conjugate, about 480 ${\rm D_s^{\pm}}$ mesons were counted, after selection cuts, in the transverse momentum range $2<p_{\rm T}<12$ Gev/$c$. The results are compared with predictions from models based on perturbative QCD. The ratios of the cross sections of four D meson species (namely ${\rm D^0}$, ${\rm D^+}$, ${\rm D^{*+}}$ and ${\rm D_s^+}$) were determined both as a function of $p_{\rm T}$ and integrated over $p_{\rm T}$ after extrapolating to full $p_{\rm T}$ range, together with the strangeness suppression factor in charm fragmentation. The obtained values are found to be compatible within uncertainties with those measured by other experiments in $\rm e^+e^-$, ep and pp interactions at various centre-of-mass energies.

The production of ${\rm\Xi}^-$ and ${\rm\Omega}^-$ baryons and their anti-particles in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV has been measured using the ALICE detector. The transverse momentum spectra at mid-rapidity ($|y| < 0.5$) for charged $\rm\Xi$ and $\rm\Omega$ hyperons have been studied in the range $0.6 < p_{\rm T} < 8.0$ GeV/$c$ and $1.2 < p_{\rm T} < 7.0$ GeV/$c$, respectively, and in several centrality intervals (from the most central 0-10% to the most peripheral 60-80% collisions). These spectra have been compared with the predictions of recent hydrodynamic models. In particular, the Krak${\'o}$w and EPOS models give a satisfactory description of the data, with the latter covering a wider $p_{\rm T}$ range. Mid-rapidity yields, integrated over $p_{\rm T}$, have been determined. The hyperon-to-pion ratios are similar to those at RHIC: they rise smoothly with centrality up to $\langle N_{\rm part}\rangle$~150 and saturate thereafter. The enhancements (yields per participant nucleon relative to pp collisions) increase both with the strangeness content of the baryon and with centrality, but are less pronounced than at lower energies.

The multi-strange baryon yields in Pb--Pb collisions have been shown to exhibit an enhancement relative to pp reactions. In this work, $\Xi$ and $\Omega$ production rates have been measured with the ALICE experiment as a function of transverse momentum, ${p_{\rm T}}$, in p-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of ${\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV. The results cover the kinematic ranges 0.6 GeV/$c<{p_{\rm T}} <$7.2 GeV/$c$ and 0.8 GeV/$c<{p_{\rm T}}<$ 5 GeV/$c$, for $\Xi$ and $\Omega$ respectively, in the common rapidity interval -0.5 $<{y_{\rm CMS}}<$ 0. Multi-strange baryons have been identified by reconstructing their weak decays into charged particles. The ${p_{\rm T}}$ spectra are analysed as a function of event charged-particle multiplicity, which in p-Pb collisions ranges over one order of magnitude and lies between those observed in pp and Pb-Pb collisions. The measured ${p_{\rm T}}$ distributions are compared to the expectations from a Blast-Wave model. The parameters which describe the production of lighter hadron species also describe the hyperon spectra in high multiplicity p-Pb. The yield of hyperons relative to charged pions is studied and compared with results from pp and Pb-Pb collisions. A statistical model is employed, which describes the change in the ratios with volume using a canonical suppression mechanism, in which the small volume causes a species-dependent relative reduction of hadron production. The calculations, in which the magnitude of the effect depends on the strangeness content, show good qualitative agreement with the data.

The pseudorapidity ($\eta$) and transverse-momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) distributions of charged particles produced in proton-proton collisions are measured at the centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. The pseudorapidity distribution in $|\eta|<$ 1.8 is reported for inelastic events and for events with at least one charged particle in $|\eta|<$ 1. The pseudorapidity density of charged particles produced in the pseudorapidity region $|\eta|<$ 0.5 is 5.31 $\pm$ 0.18 and 6.46 $\pm$ 0.19 for the two event classes, respectively. The transverse-momentum distribution of charged particles is measured in the range 0.15 $<$ $p_{\rm T}$ $<$ 20 GeV/c and $|\eta|<$ 0.8 for events with at least one charged particle in $|\eta|<$ 1. The correlation between transverse momentum and particle multiplicity is also investigated by studying the evolution of the spectra with event multiplicity. The results are compared with calculations from PYTHIA and EPOS Monte Carlo generators.

A detailed study of pseudorapidity densities and multiplicity distributions of primary charged particles produced in proton-proton collisions, at $\sqrt{s} =$ 0.9, 2.36, 2.76, 7 and 8 TeV, in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta|<2$, was carried out using the ALICE detector. Measurements were obtained for three event classes: inelastic, non-single diffractive and events with at least one charged particle in the pseudorapidity interval $|\eta|<1$. The use of an improved track-counting algorithm combined with ALICE's measurements of diffractive processes allows a higher precision compared to our previous publications. A KNO scaling study was performed in the pseudorapidity intervals $|\eta|<$ 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5. The data are compared to other experimental results and to models as implemented in Monte Carlo event generators PHOJET and recent tunes of PYTHIA6, PYTHIA8 and EPOS.

At sufficiently high temperature and energy density, nuclear matter undergoes a transition to a phase in which quarks and gluons are not confined: the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) [1]. Such an extreme state of strongly-interacting QCD (Quantum Chromo-Dynamics) matter is produced in the laboratory with high-energy collisions of heavy nuclei, where an enhanced production of strange hadrons is observed [2-6]. Strangeness enhancement, originally proposed as a signature of QGP formation in nuclear collisions [7], is more pronounced for multi-strange baryons. Several effects typical of heavy-ion phenomenology have been observed in high-multiplicity proton-proton (pp) collisions [8,9]. Yet, enhanced production of multi-strange particles has not been reported so far. Here we present the first observation of strangeness enhancement in high-multiplicity pp collisions. We find that the integrated yields of strange and multi-strange particles relative to pions increases significantly with the event charged-particle multiplicity. The measurements are in remarkable agreement with p-Pb collision results [10,11] indicating that the phenomenon is related to the final system created in the collision. In high-multiplicity events strangeness production reaches values similar to those observed in Pb-Pb collisions, where a QGP is formed.