Icarus and status of Liquid-Argon technology

Rubbia, C.; Antonello, M.; Aprili, P.; Baibussinov, B.; Baldo Ceolin, M.; Benetti, P.; Calligarich, E.; Canci, N.; Carbonara, F.; Centro, S.; Cesana, Alessandra; Cieslik, K.; Cline, D. B.; Cocco, A. G.; Dabrowska, A.; Dequal, D.; Dermenev, A.; Dolfini, R.; Farnese, C.; Fava, A.; Ferrari, A.; Fiorillo, G.; Gibin, D.; Gigli Berzolari, A.; Gninenko, S.; Golan, T.; Guglielmi, A.; Haranczyk, M.; Holeczek, J.; Karbowniczek, P.; Kirsanov, M.; Kisiel, J.; Kochanek, I.; Lagoda, J.; Mannocchi, G.; Menegolli, A.; Meng, G.; Montanari, C.; Otwinowski, S.; Palczewski, T. J.; Periale, L.; Picchi, P.; Pietropaolo, F.; Plonski, P.; Przewlocki, P.; Rappoldi, A.; Raselli, G. L.; Rossella, M.; Sala, P.; Scantamburlo, E.; Scaramelli, A.; Szarska, M.; Segreto, E.; Sergiampietri, F.; Sobczyk, J.; Stefan, D.; Stepaniak, J.; Sulej, R.; Szarska, M.; Terrani, Mario; Varanini, F.; Ventura, S.; Vignoli, C.; Wachala, T.; Wang, H.; Yang, X.; Zalewska, A.; Zaremba, K.; J. Zmuda .,

doi:10.1393/ncc/i2012-11143-7

ICARUS-T600 at the INFN-LNGS Gran Sasso Laboratory is the first underground large-mass Liquid-Argon TPC: exposed to the CNGS neutrino beam from CERN, it has been taking data since May 2010. Thanks to its excellent resolution and 3D imaging, it allows an unprecedented event visualization quality combined with a good calorimetric reconstruction and the electronic event processing. After a first commissioning phase, it has started an interesting physics program, ranging from νμ → ντ oscillation search in appearance to matter stability study, thus demonstrating the feasibility and effectiveness of the Liquid-Argon TPC technique. Furthermore, ICARUS-T600 represents a major milestone towards the realization of much larger Liquid-Argon detectors for future rare events physics. The idea to use a LAr-TPC experiment at a refurbished CERN-PS neutrino beam is presented as a possible solution to the sterile neutrino puzzle.