Speaker
Description
During LHC LS3 (2026-29) ALICE will replace its innermost three tracking layers by a new detector, the Inner Tracking System 3 (ITS3). It will be based on newly developed wafer-scale monolithic active pixel sensors, which are bent into truly cylindrical layers and held in place by light carbon-foam mechanics. Unprecedented low values of material budget (0.09% per layer) and closeness to interaction point (19 mm) lead to a factor two improvement in pointing resolutions from very low $p_T$ (O(100 MeV/c), achieving, for example, 20 $\mu$m and 15 $\mu$m in the transversal and longitudinal directions, respectively, for 1 GeV/c particles. After a successful R&D phase during 2019-2023, which demonstrated the feasibility of this innovative detector and led to the Technical Design Report (https://cds.cern.ch/record/2890181), the final sensor and mechanics are being developed right now. This contribution will review the conceptual design and the main R&D achievements, as well as the current activities and road to completion and installation. It concludes with a projection of the improved physics performance, in particular for heavy-flavour mesons and baryons and thermal dielectrons, that will come into reach with this new detector installed.
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