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Abstract Three-body nuclear forces play an important role in the structure of nuclei and hypernuclei and are also incorporated in models to describe the dynamics of dense baryonic matter, such as in neutron stars. So far, only indirect measurements anchored to the binding energies of nuclei can be used to constrain the three-nucleon force, and if hyperons are considered, the scarce data on hypernuclei impose only weak constraints on the three-body forces. In this work, we present the first direct measurement of the p–p–p and p–p– $$\Lambda $$ Λ systems in terms of three-particle correlation functions carried out for pp collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 13$$ s = 13 TeV. Three-particle cumulants are extracted from the correlation functions by applying the Kubo formalism, where the three-particle interaction contribution to these correlations can be isolated after subtracting the known two-body interaction terms. A negative cumulant is found for the p–p–p system, hinting to the presence of a residual three-body effect while for p–p– $$\Lambda $$ Λ the cumulant is consistent with zero. This measurement demonstrates the accessibility of three-baryon correlations at the LHC. 

A bstract The first measurement of the e + e − pair production at low lepton pair transverse momentum ( p T , ee ) and low invariant mass ( m ee ) in non-central Pb–Pb collisions at $$ {\sqrt{s}}_{\textrm{NN}} $$ s NN = 5 . 02 TeV at the LHC is presented. The dielectron production is studied with the ALICE detector at midrapidity ( |η e | < 0 . 8) as a function of invariant mass (0.4 ≤ m ee < 2 . 7 GeV/ c 2 ) in the 50–70% and 70–90% centrality classes for p T , ee < 0.1 GeV/ c , and as a function of p T , ee in three m ee intervals in the most peripheral Pb–Pb collisions. Below a p T , ee of 0.1 GeV/ c , a clear excess of e + e − pairs is found compared to the expectations from known hadronic sources and predictions of thermal radiation from the medium. The m ee excess spectra are reproduced, within uncertainties, by different predictions of the photon–photon production of dielectrons, where the photons originate from the extremely strong electromagnetic fields generated by the highly Lorentz-contracted Pb nuclei. Lowest-order quantum electrodynamic (QED) calculations, as well as a model that takes into account the impact-parameter dependence of the average transverse momentum of the photons, also provide a good description of the p T , ee spectra. The measured $$ \sqrt{\left\langle {p}_{\textrm{T},\textrm{ee}}^2\right\rangle } $$ p T , ee 2 of the excess p T , ee spectrum in peripheral Pb–Pb collisions is found to be comparable to the values observed previously at RHIC in a similar phase-space region. 

A bstract We report about the properties of the underlying event measured with ALICE at the LHC in pp and p–Pb collisions at $$ \sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}} $$ s NN = 5 . 02 TeV. The event activity, quantified by charged-particle number and summed- p T densities, is measured as a function of the leading-particle transverse momentum $$ \left({p}_{\textrm{T}}^{\textrm{trig}}\right) $$ p T trig . These quantities are studied in three azimuthal-angle regions relative to the leading particle in the event: toward, away, and transverse. Results are presented for three different p T thresholds (0.15, 0.5 and 1 GeV/ c ) at mid-pseudorapidity (| η | < 0 . 8). The event activity in the transverse region, which is the most sensitive to the underlying event, exhibits similar behaviour in both pp and p–Pb collisions, namely, a steep increase with $$ {p}_{\textrm{T}}^{\textrm{trig}} $$ p T trig for low $$ {p}_{\textrm{T}}^{\textrm{trig}} $$ p T trig , followed by a saturation at $$ {p}_{\textrm{T}}^{\textrm{trig}}\approx 5 $$ p T trig ≈ 5 GeV/ c . The results from pp collisions are compared with existing measurements at other centre-of-mass energies. The quantities in the toward and away regions are also analyzed after the subtraction of the contribution measured in the transverse region. The remaining jet-like particle densities are consistent in pp and p–Pb collisions for $$ {p}_{\textrm{T}}^{\textrm{trig}}>10 $$ p T trig > 10 GeV/ c , whereas for lower $$ {p}_{\textrm{T}}^{\textrm{trig}} $$ p T trig values the event activity is slightly higher in p–Pb than in pp collisions. The measurements are compared with predictions from the PYTHIA 8 and EPOS LHC Monte Carlo event generators. 

A bstract The first measurements of elliptic flow of π ± , K ± , $$ \textrm{p}+\overline{\textrm{p}} $$ p + p ¯ , $$ {\textrm{K}}_{\textrm{S}}^0 $$ K S 0 , $$ \Lambda +\overline{\Lambda} $$ Λ + Λ ¯ , ϕ , $$ {\Xi}^{-}+{\overline{\Xi}}^{+} $$ Ξ − + Ξ ¯ + , and $$ {\varOmega}^{-}+{\overline{\varOmega}}^{+} $$ Ω − + Ω ¯ + using multiparticle cumulants in Pb–Pb collisions at $$ \sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}} $$ s NN = 5 . 02 TeV are resented. Results obtained with two- ( v 2 {2}) and four-particle cumulants ( v 2 {4}) are shown as a function of transverse momentum, p T , for various collision centrality intervals. Combining the data for both v 2 {2} and v 2 {4} also allows us to report the first measurements of the mean elliptic flow, elliptic flow fluctuations, and relative elliptic flow fluctuations for various hadron species. These observables probe the event-by-event eccentricity fluctuations in the initial state and the contributions from the dynamic evolution of the expanding quark–gluon plasma. The characteristic features observed in previous p T -differential anisotropic flow measurements for identified hadrons with two-particle correlations, namely the mass ordering at low p T and the approximate scaling with the number of constituent quarks at intermediate p T , are similarly present in the four-particle correlations and the combinations of v 2 {2} and v 2 {4}. In addition, a particle species dependence of flow fluctuations is observed that could indicate a significant contribution from final state hadronic interactions. The comparison between experimental measurements and CoLBT model calculations, which combine the various physics processes of hydrodynamics, quark coalescence, and jet fragmentation, illustrates their importance over a wide p T range.