We report recent results from the ALICE experiment the Large Hadron Collider
on open charmed hadron production in pp collisions at s=2.76 and 7
TeV, and Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV.
Open charmed hadrons are kinematically fully reconstructed in the hadronic
decay channels \DtoKpi, \DtoKpipi, and \DstartoDpi %D0→K−π+,
D+→K−π+π+, and D∗+→D0(K−π+)+π+ and identified through their invariant mass. Combinatorial background is
minimized by selecting a displaced vertex topology. Inclusive charm and beauty
production is measured by detecting electrons (muons) from semi-leptonic decays
of open charmed and beauty hadrons in the central (forward) region. Comparison
to results from state-of-the-art QCD calculations is given. First results on
nuclear modifications factors in Pb--Pb collisions from hadronic and
semi-leptonic decays are presented.Comment: proceedings of the Hadron 2011 Conference, 13-17 June 2011, Munich,
Germany, 6 pages, 3 fig