ICARUS and Status of Liquid Argon Technology

TL;DR

ICARUS, the largest liquid argon TPC detector, has been operational since 2010, demonstrating the technology's potential for high-precision imaging and calorimetry in neutrino and rare event physics.

Contribution

This paper reports on the operation and status of ICARUS, showcasing liquid argon TPC technology as a milestone for future large-scale detectors.

Findings

Successful operation of ICARUS since 2010

High-quality data collection with CNGS beam and cosmics

Validation of liquid argon TPC as a promising detection technology

Abstract

ICARUS is the largest liquid argon TPC detector ever built (~600 ton LAr mass). It operates underground at the LNGS laboratory in Gran Sasso. It has been smoothly running since summer 2010, collecting data with the CNGS beam and with cosmics. Liquid argon TPCs are really "electronic bubble chamber" providing a completely uniform imaging and calorimetry with unprecedented accuracy on massive volumes. ICARUS is internationally considered as a milestone towards the realization of the next generation of massive detectors (~tens of ktons) for neutrino and rare event physics. Results will be presented on the data collected during 2010 with the detector at LNGS.