Invariant differential yields of deuterons and antideuterons in pp collisions at √ s = 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV and the yields of tritons, 3 He nuclei, and their antinuclei at √ s = 7 TeV have been measured with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurements cover a wide transverse momentum (p T ) range in the rapidity interval |y| < 0.5, extending both the energy and the p T reach of previous measurements up to 3 GeV/c for A = 2 and 6 GeV/c for A = 3. The coalescence parameters of (anti)deuterons and 3 He nuclei exhibit an increasing trend with p T and are found to be compatible with measurements in pA collisions at low p T and lower energies. The integrated yields decrease by a factor of about 1000 for each increase of the mass number with one (anti)nucleon. Furthermore, the deuteron-to-proton ratio is reported as a function of the average charged particle multiplicity at different center-of-mass energies.

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The first evidence of spin alignment of vector mesons (K Ã0 and ϕ) in heavy-ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is reported. The spin density matrix element ρ 00 is measured at midrapidity (jyj < 0.5) in Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy (ffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ffi s NN p) of 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector. ρ 00 values are found to be less than 1=3 (1=3 implies no spin alignment) at low transverse momentum (p T < 2 GeV=c) for K Ã0 and ϕ at a level of 3σ and 2σ, respectively. No significant spin alignment is observed for the K 0 S meson (spin ¼ 0) in Pb-Pb collisions and for the vector mesons in pp collisions. The measured spin alignment is unexpectedly large but qualitatively consistent with the expectation from models which attribute it to a polarization of quarks in the presence of angular momentum in heavy-ion collisions and a subsequent hadronization by the process of recombination.

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