Prospects for heavy-flavour measurements in Pb–Pb collisions at the LHC with the new ALICE inner tracker

The ALICE experiment at the LHC studies Pb–Pb, pp, and p-Pb collisions with the aim of inves- tigating the properties of the high-density state of strongly-interacting matter produced in Pb–Pb collisions. Heavy quarks are sensitive probes to test the medium transport properties, degree of thermalization, and hadronization processes since they are formed at shorter time scale with re- spect to the deconfined state. The physics motivations for the ALICE upgrade will be outlined, starting from the current measurements and showing the performance foreseen after the upgrade of 2018.