Physics of Hot Partonic Matter at LHC-ALICE

The field of high energy nuclear physics has recently reached epoch making discoveries at the Relativistic Heavy Ton Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory, highlighted with that of new state of nuclear matter with partonic degrees of freedom. The ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN aims at comprehensive investigation and understanding of properties of the hot and dense partonic matter, as the only experiment dedicated to nucleus-nucleus collisions at the facility. Physics prospects at ALICE are reviewed including jet quenching as a probe of energy loss of quarks in the created medium, direct and thermal photons as vital probes of the thermal properties, and quarkonia as a beloved probe of color deconfinement, along with latest status of the detector systems including the high resolution electromagnetic calorimeter, PHOS, and a quick report from the first operation of LHC and ALICE in December, 2009.