The main activities in the first period have been
centered around the collection of the data in the pPb, PbPb and
SMOG configurations, the last two for the first time ever at LHCb.
The data have been collected, stored, reconstructed and
analysed by my team, with the help of the experts in the
collaboration.
The analysis with the PbPb data
were very challenging due to the high multiplicities involved and
gave us an important sample of data to
develop new techniques to analyse these data and prepare for the future run.
The publications obtained using the PbPb data were the first ever at LHCb and
an outstanding milestone despite the limited reach in centrality available.
The analyses of the fixed-target samples has been another breakthrough of the project, being
completely unique in all aspects and addressing an energy not available anywhere else in
the world at the moment. The results from these analyses had huge impact in several areas
of physics, from particle to nuclear to astrophysics.
Finally, the analyses performed with the pPb sample showed a high-level
of precision and thanks to ExploringMatter team members LHCb was the first LHC experiment to publish on this
sample.
In addition, members of ExploringMatter were involved in studies for the upcoming 2022
Run 3 and in future
detectors developments meant to strengthen the LHCb participation in the heavy-ion physics
field.