Particle identification of the ALICE TPC via dE/dxdE/dx

The Time Projection Chamber (TPC) is the main tracking device of the ALICE experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The TPC, located in the central barrel of ALICE, has a cylindrical shape with an active gas volume close to 90 m3 and is operated in a 0.5 T solenoidal magnetic field parallel to its axis. It provides excellent charged particle tracking and identification (PID) in the environment of unprecedented multiplicities of charged particles. The PID is based on a measurement of the specific energy loss dE/dxdE/dx with a large dynamic range. The PID capability can be extended to high transverse momenta by applying a statistical analysis of the dE/dxdE/dx measurement in the relativistic rise. The PID performance in pp and Pb–Pb collisions from 2010 will be discussed.