ALICE is a general-purpose heavy-ion experiment designed to study the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark–gluon plasma in nucleus–nucleus collisions at the LHC. It currently involves more than 900 physicists and senior engineers, from both the nuclear and high-energy physics sectors, from over 90 institutions in about 30 countries.The ALICE detector is designed to cope with the highest particle multiplicities above those anticipated for Pb–Pb collisions (dNch/dy up to 8000) and it will be operational at the start-up of the LHC. In addition to heavy systems, the ALICE Collaboration will study collisions of lower-mass ions, which are a means of varying the energy density, and protons (both pp and pA), which primarily provide reference data for the nucleus–nucleus collisions. In addition, the pp data will allow for a number of genuine pp physics studies.The detailed design of the different detector systems has been laid down in a number of Technical Design Reports issued between mid-1998 and the end of 2004. The experiment is currently under construction and will be ready for data taking with both proton and heavy-ion beams at the start-up of the LHC.Since the comprehensive information on detector and physics performance was last published in the ALICE Technical Proposal in 1996, the detector, as well as simulation, reconstruction and analysis software have undergone significant development. The Physics Performance Report (PPR) provides an updated and comprehensive summary of the performance of the various ALICE subsystems, including updates to the Technical Design Reports, as appropriate.The PPR is divided into two volumes. Volume I, published in 2004 (CERN/LHCC 2003-049, ALICE Collaboration 2004 J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 30 1517–1763), contains in four chapters a short theoretical overview and an extensive reference list concerning the physics topics of interest to ALICE, the experimental conditions at the LHC, a short summary and update of the subsystem designs, and a description of the offline framework and Monte Carlo event generators.The present volume, Volume II, contains the majority of the information relevant to the physics performance in proton–proton, proton–nucleus, and nucleus–nucleus collisions. Following an introductory overview, Chapter 5 describes the combined detector performance and the event reconstruction procedures, based on detailed simulations of the individual subsystems. Chapter 6 describes the analysis and physics reach for a representative sample of physics observables, from global event characteristics to hard processes.

Concentrations of NO, NO 2 , NO 3 , N 2 O 5 , and O 3 were measured by classical absorption spectroscopy in dielectric barrier discharges in flowing O 2 /NO x and N 2 /O 2 /NO x mixtures. The results of measurements in different parts of the discharge chamber and in its exhaust are compared to a numerical zero-dimensional kinetic model and good agreement is found. The experimentally found upper limit of the NO x concentration allowing ozone production is confirmed by the kinetic calculations for both gas mixtures. The rotational temperature of different nitrogen bands was measured by high-resolution emission spectroscopy. The results are explained on the basis of a simplified model and related to the gas temperature in the microdischarge channel and the surrounding gas.

We compare to the probe method a spectroscopic method for determining in plasmas the electron distribution function (EDF) over a wide energy range. For a test of the radiative-collisional model we use to describe the plasma radiation, the measured vibrational distributions of N 2 (C-B) and N + 2 (B-X) were compared with calculated ones using our model and EDFs measured by Langmuir probes. From this comparison we obtain a value for the rate constant for vibrational relaxation at the walls. In a second step we invert the system of model equations for obtaining the EDF from measured line intensities. From the vibrational structure of the emission spectra of the nitrogen molecule the EDF is obtained in the energy range of 1.5-4.5 eV. From the relative intensities of the emission of nitrogen molecules and helium atoms the EDF for electron energies above 11 eV is derived. In the region between these ranges the EDF is interpolated. The results agree within the limits of the experimental errors with the EDF measured directly by the probe.

By using emission and classical absorption spectroscopy with a continuum light source we have investigated dielectric barrier discharges in N 2 /NO and O 2 /NO x mixtures. The concentrations of NO, NO 2 , NO 3 , N 2 O 5 , and O 3 were measured inside the discharge and in the exhaust. In the discharge space resolved absorption spectroscopy was performed. In discharges with high content of NO or NO x electron impact induced dissociation of NO and NO 2 turned out to be important. In discharges in pure nitrogen we found emission from NO and O( 1 S). This indicates a surface reaction of atomic nitrogen with chemisorbed oxygen and desorption of atomic oxygen. No indication for the presence of physisorbed NO was detected. A novel method for obtaining the electron distribution function from absolutely measured light intensities was applied and the results compared to solutions of the Boltzmann equation.

The paper studies non‐thermal dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) operated in a parallel plate reactor (6 cm width and 16 cm long) under atmospheric pressure in Ar/HMDSO and Ar/HMDSO/O2 mixtures at different O2 to HMDSO ratio and different power. Emission spectroscopy and FT‐IR absorption spectroscopy were applied to get information on the reaction products in the DBD. The spectroscopic analysis was performed at three residence time. The properties of the polymer films deposited on silicon wafer were measured by FT‐IR absorption spectroscopy, AFM and XPS analysis. Surface tension was obtained from contact angle measurements with water and CJ2H2. The correlation between properties of plasma and the results of thin film diagnostics has been investigated.