ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is a general-purpose, heavy-ion detector at the CERN LHC, designed to study strongly interacting matter and quark-gluon plasma in nucleus-nucleus collisions. The experiment, built by a collaboration of over 1000 physicists and engineers from 30 countries, has a total weight of approximately 10,000 tons and dimensions of 16×16×26 m³. ALICE consists of 18 different detector systems, each optimized for specific physics requirements and experimental conditions. The central barrel measures hadrons, electrons, and photons, while the forward muon spectrometer studies muons. The detector is designed to handle extreme particle multiplicity, with tracking and particle identification capabilities over a broad momentum range. Most detector systems are scheduled to be operational by mid-2008, with additional components completed for high-luminosity ion runs in 2010. ALICE's physics program includes collisions with lighter ions, lower energy runs, and proton-nucleus runs, complementing other LHC detectors. The detector's design addresses global event features, heavy flavour production, jet fragmentation, elliptic flow, prompt photons, quarkonia production, particle ratios, and non-statistical fluctuations, providing a comprehensive study of strongly interacting matter.ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is a general-purpose, heavy-ion detector at the CERN LHC, designed to study strongly interacting matter and quark-gluon plasma in nucleus-nucleus collisions. The experiment, built by a collaboration of over 1000 physicists and engineers from 30 countries, has a total weight of approximately 10,000 tons and dimensions of 16×16×26 m³. ALICE consists of 18 different detector systems, each optimized for specific physics requirements and experimental conditions. The central barrel measures hadrons, electrons, and photons, while the forward muon spectrometer studies muons. The detector is designed to handle extreme particle multiplicity, with tracking and particle identification capabilities over a broad momentum range. Most detector systems are scheduled to be operational by mid-2008, with additional components completed for high-luminosity ion runs in 2010. ALICE's physics program includes collisions with lighter ions, lower energy runs, and proton-nucleus runs, complementing other LHC detectors. The detector's design addresses global event features, heavy flavour production, jet fragmentation, elliptic flow, prompt photons, quarkonia production, particle ratios, and non-statistical fluctuations, providing a comprehensive study of strongly interacting matter.