Open heavy-flavor measurements with ALICE at the LHC

ALICE is well equipped to reconstruct heavy-flavor particles down to low transverse momentum p(T) at mid and forward rapidity. An overview of the ALICE results obtained with the Run 1 data in pp (root s=2.76 TeV and root s=7 TeV), Pb-Pb (root s(NN)=2.76 TeV) and p-Pb (root s(NN)=5.02 TeV) collisions is presented. In pp collisions the measured cross sections are well described by pQCD calculations. The charged-particle multiplicity dependence of heavy-flavor yields indicates that Multi-Parton Interactions contribute to the high-multiplicity pp collisions and affect charm and beauty production in a similar way. In p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions the measured nuclear modification factors indicate a final-state energy loss of heavy quarks in central Pb-Pb collisions. Furthermore, the observed positive heavy-flavor elliptic flow in semi-central Pb-Pb collisions gives a hint that charm quarks participate in the collective expansion of the medium at low P-T. In high-multiplicity p-Pb collisions, a double-ridge structure is observed in the heavy-flavor decay electron-hadron azimuthal correlations at low p(T) similar to what is measured in the light-flavor sector. Such long-range correlations in eta could originate from a collective expansion of the system, as well as from gluon saturation in the initial state (color-glass condensate) or other mechanisms.