Underground Neutrino Detectors for Particle and Astroparticle Science: the Giant Liquid Argon Charge Imaging ExpeRiment (GLACIER)

Abstract

The current focus of the CERN program is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), however, CERN is engaged in long baseline neutrino physics with the CNGS project and supports T2K as recognized CERN RE13, and for good reasons: a number of observed phenomena in high-energy physics and cosmology lack their resolution within the Standard Model of particle physics; these puzzles include the origin of neutrino masses, CP-violation in the leptonic sector, and baryon asymmetry of the Universe. They will only partially be addressed at LHC. A positive measurement of ${\sin }^{2}2{\theta }_{13}>0.01$ would certainly give a tremendous boost to neutrino physics by opening the possibility to study CP violation in the lepton sector and the determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy with upgraded conventional super-beams. These experiments (so called ``Phase II'') require, in addition to an upgraded beam power, next generation very massive neutrino detectors with excellent energy resolution and high detection efficiency in a wide neutrino energy range, to cover 1st and 2nd oscillation maxima, and excellent particle identification and ${\pi }^0$ background suppression. Two generations of large water Cherenkov detectors at Kamioka (Kamiokande and Super-Kamiokande) have been extremely successful. And there are good reasons to consider a third generation water Cherenkov detector with an order of magnitude larger mass than Super-Kamiokande for both non-accelerator (proton decay, supernovae, ...) and accelerator-based physics. On the other hand, a very massive underground liquid Argon detector of about 100 kton could represent a credible alternative for the precision measurements of ``Phase II'' and aim at significantly new results in neutrino astroparticle and non-accelerator-based particle physics (e.g. proton decay).

31 pages, 14 figures

References in corpus (13)

• NOvA Proposal to Build a 30 Kiloton Off-Axis Detector to Study Neutrino Oscillations in the Fermilab NuMI Beamline
• Large underground, liquid based detectors for astro-particle physics in Europe: scientific case and prospects
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• Neutrino Oscillations With A Next Generation Liquid Argon TPC Detector in Kamioka or Korea Along The J-PARC Neutrino Beam
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Cited by in corpus (18)

• The Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background
• Potential of optimized NOvA for large theta(13) & combined performance with a LArTPC & T2K
• Performance study of the effective gain of the double phase liquid Argon LEM Time Projection Chamber
• Probing thermonuclear supernova explosions with neutrinos
• Optimised sensitivity to leptonic CP violation from spectral information: the LBNO case at 2300 km baseline
• A CERN-based high-intensity high-energy proton source for long baseline neutrino oscillation experiments with next-generation large underground detectors for proton decay searches and neutrino physics and astrophysics
• First operation and drift field performance of a large area double phase LAr Electron Multiplier Time Projection Chamber with an immersed Greinacher high-voltage multiplier
• Delayed Detonation Thermonuclear Supernovae With An Extended Dark Matter Component
• Feasibility of high-voltage systems for a very long drift in liquid argon TPCs
• The LBNO long-baseline oscillation sensitivities with two conventional neutrino beams at different baselines
• A comparative study of long-baseline superbeams within LAGUNA for large ${\theta }_{13}$
• Testing New Physics in Oscillations at a Neutrino Factory
• A tagged low-momentum kaon test-beam exposure with a 250L LAr TPC (J-PARC T32)
• Towards a liquid Argon TPC without evacuation: filling of a 6 m^3 vessel with argon gas from air to ppm impurities concentration through flushing
• A Modern Look at the Oscillation Physics Case for a Neutrino Factory
• Accurate Quark CKM Mixing Matrix in terms of one universal parameter
• Advanced One-Parameter CKM Mixing Matrix and Universal Deviation from Exact Quark-Lepton Complementarity
• Neural-network-driven proton decay sensitivity in the $p\to \bar{\nu }{K}^{+}$ channel using large liquid argon time projection chambers