Particle identification in ALICE at the LHC

The study of midrapidity emission of hadrons in heavy-ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider necessitates particle identification in order to study the details of the hadronized system. The ALICE experiment, devoted to the study of heavy-ion collisions at the LHC, has therefore designed its central part around a robust and complex particle identification system that will span from the lowest momenta measurable to ~2.5 GeV/c for the kaon identification. A description of the performances of all the detectors is given as well as the recent advances in the R&D. (13 refs).