The forthcoming ALICE experiment at LHC will have the unique capability of identifying particles with a high separation power and it is expected to give new insights into dynamics of relativistic heavy ion collisions, {e.g.} the interplay between soft and hard processes in the hadron production as discussed here. The results obtained from the heavy ion experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the expectations at the unprecedented LHC energies will be also shown. Particle ratios from equilibrium and non equilibrium scenarios are presented. Furthermore, hadron momentum spectra and the production of some resonances as will be measured by ALICE are discussed.

PACS numbers: 25.75.Nq, 24.10.Nz, 24.10.Pa