[en] ICARUS T600 Liquid Argon (LAr) Time Projection Chamber (TPC) is located in the HALL B of the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, on axis with the CNGS neutrino beam. It is smoothly and continuously operating since June 2010. The experiment has proved to be well suited to address the superluminal neutrino problem firstly raised by the OPERA experiment. As A.G.Cohen and S.L.Glashow argued, Super-luminal muon neutrinos should lose their energy by producing photons and e⁺e⁻ bremsstrahlung pairs, in analogy with Čerenkov radiation. The lack of observation of such a radiative process in the ICARUS T600 detector, using the CNGS beam neutrino events, immediately refuted a superluminal interpretation of the OPERA result. Moreover the ICARUS collaboration, profiting of two short periods of CNGS beam operation in bunched mode, repeatedly performed a high precision measurement of the neutrino time-of-flight (to∫) which resulted to be compatible with the time-of-flight of a particle traveling at the speed of light: the difference between the expected value based on the speed of light and the measured value is δt=to∫_c−to∫_ν=0.10±0.67_stat±2.39_syst ns

[en] We have constructed and operated the ICARUS T600 liquid argon (LAr) time projection chamber (TPC). The ICARUS T600 detector is the largest LAr TPC ever built, with a size of about 500 tons of fully imaging mass. The design and assembly of the detector relied on industrial support and represents the applications of concepts matured in laboratory tests to the kton scale. The ICARUS T600 was commissioned for a technical run that lasted about 3 months. During this period all the detector features were extensively tested with an exposure to cosmic-rays at surface with a resulting data collection of about 30 000 events. The detector was developed as the first element of a modular design. Thanks to the concept of modularity, it will be possible to realize a detector with several ktons active mass, to act as an observatory for astroparticle and neutrino physics at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory and a second-generation nucleon decay experiment. In this paper a description of the ICARUS T600 is given, detailing its design specifications, assembly procedures and acceptance tests. Commissioning procedures and results of the technical run are also reported, as well as results from the off-line event reconstruction

[en] Liquid-Argon Time Projection Chamber (L Ar-Tpc) technology provides unique features in event imaging and calorimetric resolution. These characteristics, combined with a good rejection power and a (virtually) unlimited active mass, make this technology one of the best candidates for the next generation of long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. The ArgoNeuT detector, a small L Ar-Tpc (0.24 on of active mass) exposed to the NuMI beam at Fermilab and currently producing the fist low-energy neutrino events in a L Ar-Tpc, is the first step of a staged US program to realize and operate a massive L Ar-Tpc detector for ν physics. This paper describes design details, experimental goals and current status of the experiment and reports a first example of quasi-elastic ν_μ charged-current event reconstruction, including a first evidence of nuclear effects in the region surrounding the interaction vertex.

[en] SABRE (Sodium-iodide with Active Background REjection) is a direct dark matter search experiment based on an array of radio-pure NaI(Tl) crystals surrounded by a liquid scintillator veto. Twin SABRE experiments in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres will differentiate a dark matter signal from seasonal and local effects. The experiment is currently in a Proof-of-Principle (PoP) phase, whose goal is to demonstrate that the background rate is low enough to carry out an independent search for a dark matter signal, with sufficient sensitivity to confirm or refute the DAMA result during the following full-scale experimental phase. As such, the impact of background radiation from the detector materials and the experimental site needs to be carefully investigated, including both intrinsic and cosmogenically activated radioactivity. Based on the best knowledge of the most relevant sources of background, we have performed a detailed Monte Carlo study evaluating the expected background in the dark matter search spectral region. The simulation model described in this paper guides the design of the full-scale experiment and will be fundamental for the interpretation of the measured background and hence for the extraction of a possible dark matter signal.

[en] Short communication

[en] Short communication

[en] The next generation of long baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, aiming at precision measurements of the MNSP matrix element, will be focused on the 'few GeV' energy range. For these experiments one of the main sources of uncertainty is the poor knowledge of the v-nucleus interaction cross-section, dominated in this energy range by the QE channel contribution. The LAr-TPC technology is ideal to perform a wide variety of v-physics studies in the intermediate energy range, thanks to the capability of single particle identification and detailed reconstruction of exclusive topologies. The present paper reports a feasibility study for the measurement of the QE CC cross-section for the v_μ-nucleus interaction in liquid Argon, using the ArgoNeuT detector on the NuMI Beam and the MINOS Near Detector as muon catcher. The estimated relative statistical error between 1 and 4 GeV is at the level of 4-5%, below the beam systematics. The present status of the ArgoNeuT experiment is also reported.

[en] Short communication

[en] SABRE aims to directly measure the annual modulation of the dark matter interaction rate with NaI(Tl) crystals. A modulation compatible with the standard hypothesis, in which our Galaxy is immersed in a dark matter halo, has been measured by the DAMA experiment in the same target material. Other direct detection experiments, using different target materials, seem to exclude the interpretation of such modulation in the simplest scenario of WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering. The SABRE experiment aims to carry out an independent search with sufficient sensitivity to confirm or refute the DAMA claim. The goal of the SABRE experiment is to achieve the lowest background rate for a NaI(Tl) experiment (order of 0.1 cpd/kg/keV${}_{ee}$ in the energy region of interest for dark matter). This challenging goal could be achievable by operating high-purity crystals inside a liquid scintillator veto for active background rejection. In addition, twin detectors will be located in the northern and southern hemispheres to identify possible contributions to the modulation from seasonal or site-related effects. The SABRE project includes an initial Proof-of-Principle phase at LNGS (Italy), to assess the radio-purity of the crystals and the efficiency of the liquid scintillator veto. This paper describes the general concept of SABRE and the expected sensitivity to WIMP annual modulation.

[en] In this report we present simulated event numbers, for various MC generators, for pion production in ν_μ CC reactions on ¹⁶O. For the simulation we used four different neutrino interaction generators: GENIE, FLUKA, NEUT, and NuWro, as proposed during the 45^th Karpacz Winter School on neutrino interactions. First, we give a brief outline of the theoretical models relevant to pion production. We then present results, in the form of tables showing the occupancy of primary and final state pion topologies, for all the generated samples. Finally we compare the results from the different generators and draw conclusions about the similarities and differences. For some of the generators we explore the effect of varying the axial mass parameter or the use of a different nuclear model. (author)