A large, all-silicon MAPS detector for the next-generation ALICE 3 experiment

ALICE 3 is proposed as the next-generation experiment for the heavy-ion program at the LHC Run 5 and 6. One of the goals of ALICE 3 is to understand the interactions of heavy charm and beauty quarks with the plasma. To achieve this, ALICE 3 will have an emphasis on lightweight, high-resolution tracking, providing excellent momentum resolution and vertex determination. A 60 m² all-silicon tracker is proposed using the newest 65 nm CMOS Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS) technology. The foreseen material budget for the tracker is less than 1% of a radiation length per layer and goes down to 0.05% per layer for the vertex tracker. R&D on design, mechanical structure, and cooling are ramping up to achieve these stringent requirements. This talk will cover the current ALICE 3 design and performance with a focus on the planned R&D for the silicon outer tracker.