This thesis offers an excellent, comprehensive introduction to the physics of the quark–gluon plasma. It clearly explains the connection between theory and experiment, making the topic accessible to non-specialists in this field. The experimental work, which contributes significantly to our understanding of the quark–gluon plasma, is described in great detail. The results described in the final chapters of the thesis provide interesting new ideas about the connection between proton-proton and Pb-Pb collisions. Simone Schuchmann received the 'ALICE Thesis Award 2016' for this excellent work.

Here, the transverse momentum (pT) dependence of the nuclear modification factor RAA and the centrality dependence of the average transverse momentum pT for inclusive J/[psi] have been measured with ALICE for Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN=2.76 TeV in the e+e- decay channel at mid-rapidity (

Here, the production of prompt Ds+ mesons was measured for the first time in collisions of heavy nuclei with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The analysis was performed on a data sample of Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair, √sNN, of 2.76 TeV in two different centrality classes, namely 0-10% and 20-50%. Ds+ mesons and their antiparticles were reconstructed at mid-rapidity from their hadronic decay channel Ds+ → [Phi][pi]+, with [Phi] → K-K+, in the transverse momentum intervals 4

Here we have studied the transverse-momentum (pT) dependence of the inclusive J/$\psi$ production in p-Pb collisions at root $\sqrt{s_{N\ N}}$ = 5.02 TeV, in three center-of-mass rapidity (ycms) regions, down to zero pT. Results in the forward and backward rapidity ranges (2.03