Forward physics and UPC in ALICE

ALICE is an experiment dedicated to heavy-ion studies. Depending on the impact parameter (IP), one can split collisions into several classes: central (IP close to zero), peripheral (IP larger but nuclei still overlap), and ultraperipheral (no nuclear overlap). In this presentation I would like to concentrate on ultraperipheral collisions. They provide a clean, low-multiplicity environment to study quantum chromodynamics (QCD) phenomena such as shadowing or saturation at low Bjorken x, as well as entanglement. The coherent J/ψ or ψ(2S) vector meson (VM) photoproduction is sensitive to gluon distribution functions. The incoherent photoproduction is sensitive to initial subnucleon fluctuations and may indicate the onset of gluon saturation. The study of lepton pair production is crucial for validation of the photon flux produced in various Monte Carlo generators. It also gives insights into physics beyond the Standard Model. The large ALICE upgrade allowed for a streaming readout, which opened the possibility to study collectivity in small systems. The ALICE experiment has recently measured electromagnetic dissociation, coherent and incoherent VM photoproduction, as well as lepton pair production from Run 2 and Run 3. These results, together with inclusive spectra of identified light and strange hadrons, will also be shown. The ongoing activities of the ALICE Krakow group will also be summarised.