Formation of Centauro and Strangelets in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions at the LHC and their Identification by the ALICE Experiment 1

We present a phenomenological model which describes the formation of a Centauro fireball in nucleus-nucleus interactions in the upper atmosphere and at the LHC, and its decay to non-strange baryons and Strangelets. We describe the CASTOR detector for the ALICE experiment at the LHC. CASTOR will probe, in an eventby-event mode, the very forward, baryon-rich phase space 5.6 7.2 in 5.5 A TeV central collisions. We present results of simulations for the response of the CASTOR calorimeter, and in particular to the traversal of Strangelets.